Plague Watch: Siberia

Host0:49

The place is Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk, in eastern Siberia, not far from Lake Baikal. The woman who died was a laboratory technician in her late twenties at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. The institute was founded in nineteen thirty four. It works under Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's public health agency, and studies plague, cholera and anthrax. According to Russian media, something went wrong on September twenty fifth. One account says a test tube containing live bacteria broke while she was collecting samples. That account has not been confirmed. On September twenty ninth she was admitted to the hospital in Shelekhov with symptoms of severe pneumonia. She was put on a ventilator. She died overnight into Friday, October second.

1:45

The response was big, and fast. At least one hundred ninety seven people were identified as possible contacts. One hundred eighty nine of them were placed under observation in medical facilities, more than one hundred of them in hospital wards. The hospital in Shelekhov went under quarantine, while its outpatient clinic kept running. Reports list restrictions at five more medical facilities in Irkutsk, including three city hospitals, a children's hospital and a maternity hospital. The aluminum plant in Shelekhov told workers to wear masks. Public events in Irkutsk were canceled. A criminal investigation was opened into suspected safety violations that led to a death. Anna Popova, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, flew in from Moscow for an emergency meeting. The governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, said every identified contact was under observation, showing no signs of illness, with negative lab results. His statement mentioned only what it called a suspected particularly dangerous infection. It did not name a disease. Then, information started disappearing. The town of Baikalsk told residents to avoid travel to Shelekhov and deleted that advice about two hours later. Some posts by Russian media outlets were taken down. Meanwhile, people in Shelekhov and Irkutsk started buying antibiotics.

3:17

This is the important part, so let's be precise. Rospotrebnadzor says the diagnosis was pneumonia of unknown cause. It says no accident with dangerous microorganisms was recorded at the institute, and that nothing linked to her lab work was found in her samples. It calls the situation in Irkutsk and Shelekhov stable. The word plague came from Alexei Tsydenov, the head of the neighboring Republic of Buryatia. He first wrote that she had died of plague. He then edited the post to say she may have died of plague. He also denied that she had visited Buryatia. So there are three versions of how she might have been infected. A broken test tube at the lab. A work trip to Buryatia, which Buryatia denies. Or a trip back from Thailand. None of the three has been officially confirmed. Experts disagree too. Gennady Onishchenko, a former head of Rospotrebnadzor, questioned whether this was plague at all. Michael Favorov, a Russian epidemiologist based in the United States, doubted the test tube story, because staff there should be wearing protective suits. And he said he doesn't expect a full account. The World Health Organization says it has offered Russia support. Testing is underway, and the cause of death is not confirmed.

4:42

Plague is caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis. It lives in rodents and their fleas, and it comes in a few forms. Bubonic plague is the one from history books. It usually comes from a flea bite, swells the lymph nodes, and generally does not pass from person to person. Pneumonic plague is the one in this story. It infects the lungs, either because bubonic plague spreads there, or because someone breathes the bacteria in. It can pass between people through respiratory droplets. That's why a single case triggers this much contact tracing. Here's the key point. The World Health Organization says untreated pneumonic plague is always fatal. It also says recovery rates are high if treatment starts within twenty four hours of symptoms. Ordinary antibiotics work. Incubation runs from one to seven days, and can be as short as a day. Brendan Wren, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told CNBC the bacterium is fairly transmissible, but not as transmissible as COVID. Tal Brosh Nissimov, an infectious disease specialist in Israel, said close contact is needed to catch it, and called the quarantine somewhat excessive. And plague isn't new to Siberia. It lingers in wild rodents in the mountains along the borders with Mongolia and China. Russia's last recorded human case was in twenty sixteen, in the Altai Republic. A ten year old boy caught it while skinning a marmot. He was treated, and he recovered.

6:22

Three things will settle this. First, a lab result. Russia either confirms Yersinia pestis or names another cause. Second, the contacts. With an incubation period of up to seven days, if none of the nearly two hundred people under observation falls ill this week, that's the strongest sign this stays one tragic case. Third, transparency. The World Health Organization calls the risk to the general public low on the information it has, and says it will update that assessment. The United States State Department has asked Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly.

7:05

Today we covered the death of a laboratory technician near Irkutsk, the quarantine around it, why plague is still unconfirmed, and what pneumonic plague is. We'll keep a running page with a map and the latest reports on the Plague Watch page of our site. Links to every source are in the show notes. The regular edition is back tomorrow. I'm your host. Take care of each other.