EU Countries to Discuss Possible Plague Outbreak in Russia

A meeting of the Health Security Committee, which deals with cross-border health threats, is scheduled to take place in Brussels this morning. The meeting had been planned in advance, but this “emergency” item was added to the agenda at the last minute.

“I can confirm that the incident in Russia will be on the agenda of the Health Security Committee,” a European Commission spokesperson told Euronews.

The crisis began with reports of the death of a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in southeastern Siberia. She died on October 2 under unclear circumstances. Her death was officially attributed to “pneumonia of unknown etiology.”

Russian authorities say there is no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she had been working with and insist that the situation is under control.

A quarantine was imposed at the hospital where Daria Shipilova died. Around 200 people who had been in contact with her have been placed under strict medical surveillance.

Separately, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have introduced precautionary measures at their borders to prevent the possible spread of infectious diseases.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that none of these individuals had developed symptoms of plague and that initial tests had returned negative results. However, officials in Geneva noted that it was “unclear” which pathogens the Russian authorities had tested for.

According to the WHO, the risk to the European region is “very low,” while the risk in Irkutsk Region is “low to moderate.”

In a statement, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said that the suspected plague outbreak “has not been confirmed at this stage.”

“Connectivity between Irkutsk and the EU is limited,” the agency noted.

“Based on the limited information currently available to us, we are not aware of any secondary cases or sustained human-to-human transmission.”

Brussels and Washington are closely monitoring developments and urging Russia to provide accurate and transparent information.

Pneumonic plague develops when plague bacteria infect a person's lungs. It is the most severe form of the disease and can spread from person to person. Without treatment, the case fatality rate ranges from 30% to 100%, although this form of plague can generally be treated with antibiotics.