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Russian regulators said WHO on Tuesday that there was no evidence pneumonic plague played a role in his death and no pathogen had been detected, agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. About 200 of his contacts have been placed in quarantine.
A request for further information has been sent to Russian authorities, he added, noting that the laboratory is part of an institute in Irkutsk that studies dangerous pathogens, including plague, that occur naturally in wild animals in the region.
Post-COVID fears
When reports emerged last week of a possible pneumonia outbreak in Irkutsk, WHO immediately began monitoring and conducting risk assessments.
Maria Van Kerkhove, who heads the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic threat management department, said the health agency had contacted Russia for details on laboratory results, tests and further analysis.
He said the request included further information regarding media reports another suspicious pneumonia death in the region.
Acknowledging that the world has a “heightened attention to risk” due to the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that killed more than 20 million people, Dr. Van Kerkhove said “we want to provide fair and factual information and when we don’t have an answer, we say so.”
Meanwhile, WHO has offered support to Russia and expects further answers from Moscow in the coming days, he said, stressing that the agency will share new information as soon as it is available.
Fatal consequences
Cases of deadly plague infections, caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria usually found in small mammals and their fleas, are reported around the world every year, said Dr. Van Kerkhove.
Nearly 4,000 cases and 423 deaths reported in 10 countries between 2019 and 2025according to a WHO report.
The highly contagious pneumonic plague occurs when bacteria infect the lungs and “can trigger severe epidemics through person-to-person transmission via respiratory particles,” according to WHO.
If left untreated, the disease can be fatal within 18 to 24 hours of onset.
But Common antibiotics for enterobacteria can cure the disease effectively if given early, the UN health agency said.
- Bubonic plague is the most common form of clinical plague and less common but severe forms include septicemic and pneumonic plague.
- The disease is transmitted between animals and humans through the bite of infected fleas, direct contact with infected tissue, and inhalation of infected respiratory particles.
- Plague has a case fatality ratio of 30 to 60 percent for the bubonic plague type, and is always fatal for the pneumonia and septicemia types if left untreated.
- Antibiotic treatment is effective against plague bacteria, so early diagnosis and treatment can save lives
- The human plague remains endemic in several countries, with the majority of the nearly 4,000 cases reported between 2019 and 2025 located in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar.
