Moscow, October 5 (TNA) Russian authorities have introduced quarantine measures in Siberia’s Irkutsk region after a 28-year-old technician at an anti-plague research institute died following a severe respiratory illness. Nearly 200 people who may have come in contact with her have reportedly been placed under medical observation.
The deceased, identified in reports as Darya Shipilova, worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov. Reports said she may have been exposed to Yersinia pestis after a test tube broke while she was handling laboratory samples on September 25.
Shipilova was admitted to a hospital on September 29 with symptoms resembling severe pneumonia and was placed on ventilator support. She died in intensive care in the early hours of October 2, according to regional reports.
Five medical facilities in the Irkutsk region have reportedly been placed under quarantine, including municipal hospitals, a children’s hospital and a maternity facility. The restrictions are expected to remain in place for several weeks, although authorities have not officially confirmed that the measures are linked to a plague outbreak.
Reports said 197 people who may have come into contact with the deceased were identified, with many admitted or kept under observation at medical facilities. However, regional health authorities have stated that those monitored tested negative and described the woman’s illness as pneumonia of unknown origin.
Russia’s consumer-health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region remained stable. Officials have not publicly confirmed a human plague outbreak, and investigations into the suspected laboratory exposure are continuing.