What happened?
The laboratory technician worked at a plague research institute and died in a hospital outside Irkutsk on October 2.
The same day, local media reported her death. The local newspaper Bajkalfolket wrote that plague was suspected and mentioned a broken test tube as a possible cause of infection, although it gave no further details.
The newspaper also stated that 200 people the woman had been in contact with had been quarantined.
According to the mayor of Shelekhov, where the woman died, a local hospital was also placed under quarantine.
How has Russia reacted?
Russian authorities have denied or played down reports of pneumonic plague. They have stated that the woman died of “pneumonia of unknown origin,” but denied that she had been infected by something she was working with.
In a statement to the World Health Organization (WHO), Rospotrebnadzor (Russia’s federal health agency) stated that no cases of plague had been registered in the Irkutsk region.
How has the outside world reacted?
Russia’s handling of information has raised questions at the World Health Organization (WHO).
“We don’t understand how she got infected. We need information at a faster pace, and more regularly,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s head of epidemic and pandemic management, said on Wednesday.
We have asked questions of our colleagues in Russia. To be honest, they have answered, but we have asked more follow-up questions.
On Thursday, Rospotrebnadzor denied unconfirmed reports that a second person had fallen ill after being in contact with the laboratory technician.
According to independent Russian media, the agency did not provide any further answers about the technician’s death or why several hospitals in the region had been quarantined.
The US and the EU have also demanded more detailed information, so far without any known results. US President Donald Trump has said he has a planned phone call with Russia’s Vladimir Putin about the suspected plague case.
How has Sweden reacted?
Sweden’s Minister for Social Affairs, Jakob Forssmed (KD), said in a comment to TT on Thursday that the government and the Public Health Agency were monitoring developments closely.
At present, the Public Health Agency does not consider there to be grounds for any special measures.
According to Forssmed, Sweden is working through international bodies to persuade Russia to release more information.
Plague is historically one of the most feared infectious diseases and is also known as the Black Death.
The plague bacterium can cause three different forms of the disease: bubonic plague, septicemic plague (or blood plague), and pneumonic plague. The latter occurs when the bacterium infects the lungs.
Pneumonic plague can be treated with antibiotics, but treatment must begin early in the course of the disease. Untreated pneumonic plague is fatal in almost 100 percent of cases.
Plague occurs in many parts of the world but is not found in Sweden. The last time Sweden experienced a plague outbreak was in the early 18th century. In Stockholm alone, about 22,000 people died in the winter of 1710–1711, equivalent to almost 40 percent of the city’s population.
