‘Nobody seems to care’: Russian city shrugs off plague reports

Some residents in Irkutsk questioned whether the laboratory worker had died of plague at all.

Irkutsk , Russia - Reports of a plague laboratory worker’s death in Siberia have caused waves of speculation outside Russia, but in the city where she worked, many appeared unfazed.

The laboratory worker’s death was first reported on Oct 2. Several Russian media outlets reported she had died from pneumonic plague, a highly contagious form of the deadly disease, and that dozens of people had been quarantined.

But Russian officials played down the reports this week, saying that postmortem tests did not detect the disease in her body and that no special measures were in place.

“If it were really serious, I think they would have shut everything down by now,” one man, who did not provide his name, told AFP in the remote Siberian city of Irkutsk.

“As it stands, nobody really seems to care,” he added.

Another man in Irkutsk said he had asked his parents to take precautions like washing their hands, but that he did not view it as a “serious threat”.

Russian news outlet People of Baikal reported on Oct 2 that the laboratory technician, whom it named as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, may have contracted plague from a broken test tube.

Other media reported a possible link between her death and a lab accident at the facility.

US President Donald Trump has offered to help Russia, if necessary, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for Russia to be “transparent”.

On Oct 6, Trump said he was due to speak shortly with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the reports.

“I don’t think it was actually plague,” one man in the city said, without giving his name.

Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms, including pneumonic plague, which is the most contagious type and can be transmitted by respiratory means.

Pneumonic plague can be fatal if not treated early, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In a press briefing earlier on Oct 6, a WHO spokesman said the risk from the incident appeared to be “moderate to low”.

The governor of the Irkutsk region said that health authorities found no evidence that the woman had died of plague.

Moscow appeared to counter Washington’s offer to help on Oct 6, saying it was ready to help the United States with its own infectious diseases.

“Today I read that Trump wants to help the city of Irkutsk,” said another local resident.

“We can handle it ourselves,” the man added.

The US national public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in a post on X it was “closely monitoring reports” of a suspected plague case in Russia, adding there was “no indication of a broader threat to the United States”. AFP