Russia denies reports of a second illness linked to Siberian plague lab death as WHO seeks more details

Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Thursday, October 8, 2026, that reports of a second person falling ill after contact with a worker at a plague research institute in Siberia were false, while the World Health Organization said it lacked enough information from Russian authorities to carry out a full risk assessment. The worker, identified in Russian media and by international outlets as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova (spelled Daria Shipilova by some outlets), was a laboratory employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, based in the town of Shelekhov in Russia's Irkutsk region. Russian authorities say she died on October 2 of pneumonia of unknown origin; Rospotrebnadzor says it has not established that plague caused the death and that no plague case has been registered in the region.

Rospotrebnadzor, described by outlets as Russia's health regulator, consumer health watchdog and public health watchdog, said in a statement published by Russian news agencies that it rejected what it called 'fake information circulating on social media regarding a second case of illness.' It said checks on all contacts of the dead woman were complete and that 'no health issues related to an infectious disease were detected, and the results of nearly 5,000 laboratory tests showed no dangerous pathogenic microorganisms.' The agency has said the woman died of pneumonia of unknown origin, that 'extensive' testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with, and that she had been 'vaccinated and had immunity to dangerous infections.' It said it conducted the 'whole range of anti-epidemic measures in connection with the professional activities of the person who fell ill,' and that a probe into biological safety norms at the institute found 'no emergencies in dealing with pathogens' and confirmed safety measures had been observed. It also said it informed the WHO that no case of plague had been registered in the Irkutsk region.

The WHO has asked Russia to verify 'media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency received information from two media outlets, one of them Russian, and said: 'We don't yet have the full picture of this event. And we're not able to conduct a full risk assessment.' He said 'timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the international regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports.' Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said the agency does not know the 'causative agent' behind the death and that 'we don't understand how she was infected,' adding that the agency needs 'information in a timely way' and answers to its follow-up questions. The WHO initially estimated the risk of the case to the public as low based on what had been made known, but said it could not make a fuller risk assessment because of insufficient information. The Straits Times reported that the WHO based its request on two reports: one by Russian outlet starhit.ru, which it said mostly covers celebrity news, and a story citing unnamed Russian media from the British newspaper the Daily Mail. CBC reported that the reports started with a Russian media outlet and were spread to English-language audiences by the Daily Mail.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that 'the vast majority of what the media is reporting regarding this situation is false information,' and said information on the suspected cases should come from official statements by Rospotrebnadzor. The New York Post reported Peskov as saying Russia reported the incident to the WHO and followed international protocol, and as accusing the media of pushing false information about the case. Al Jazeera reported that Russia acknowledged on Sunday that the 28-year-old woman had died after being diagnosed with 'pneumonia of unknown aetiology,' and that the United States, the European Union and the WHO have called on Russia to be transparent.

US CDC Director Erica Schwartz said on Wednesday that the risk to the United States from the suspected case was 'extremely low,' that the agency was working with the departments of Homeland Security, State and Defense and other agencies to monitor people travelling from the area, and that the CDC has a health station at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport that can conduct surveillance and screening for travellers from the region. The CDC said in a separate statement that there was 'no indication of a broader threat to the United States' but that it and interagency partners were prepared and would continue to monitor the situation, and it reminded that plague is treatable with antibiotics. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told Reuters that about 200 people per year travel from the Siberian region to the United States. CBC reported that HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it planned to set up screening at JFK, and that direct flights between Russia and the United States have been suspended since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022. NPR reported that the State Department issued a formal request for Russia to provide more details on the case, and that the US embassy in Moscow published a health alert advising Americans still in Russia to seek immediate medical assistance if they experience adverse respiratory problems.

US President Donald Trump, asked on Wednesday whether the infection could have been from a bioweapon, said: 'We do not think so,' adding 'We're going to find out soon enough,' and said Russia was 'saying it is very much under control' while 'Russia is not saying much either.' Al Jazeera reported Trump confirmed he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the two sides were in 'very deep discussions,' with an update likely 'probably tomorrow.' NPR, in a report published October 7, said Trump was expected to hold a phone call with Putin later that week. Former CDC director Robert Redfield told NewsNation on Tuesday that 'if she was working in a plague lab and had an accident, there would have been a protocol for her to go on antibiotics,' and that if the plague she was working with had been manipulated to be insensitive to antibiotics, 'that would explain why maybe they didn't work.'

The New York Post reported that the dead woman's mother, Svetlana Shipilova, a medical professional, told Russian outlet Glubina that she rejected the account that her daughter was infected after breaking a test tube. She said it is impossible to break such a test tube, that 'even if you fling it at the wall' only an amateur would say otherwise, that 'even hypothetically, you simply can't spill what's inside or break the tube,' and that 'they simply let my daughter die.'

Reported measures and the information environment around the case have differed across outlets. CBC reported that Russian authorities 'swiftly rolled out a series of precautionary anti-epidemic measures that caught global attention,' and that two hundred people were placed under medical observation in Siberia after the death, while the New York Post reported that hundreds who had come into contact with the woman were placed under quarantine. Al Jazeera's related-stories list includes a headline stating that Russia denied imposing anti-plague measures after the lab worker's death. PBS reported that Rospotrebnadzor did not offer new information about the illness and death or the reasons behind the 'sprawling emergency measures' in the region, and that Russian state TV and other state-controlled media have largely avoided the subject, with some news outlets withdrawing earlier reports. NPR reported that exiled Russian media with contacts in Siberia have chronicled quarantines at some local hospitals and posts by local government officials about health dangers that later disappeared, and said NPR has not independently confirmed those reports. Health Canada told CBC it is monitoring the situation and sees no risk to Canada at this time; the agency said the last recorded human case of plague in Canada was in 1939.

Where sources differ

• Number of people affected by contact tracing: the New York Post says hundreds who came into contact with the dead worker were placed under quarantine, while a CBC report says 200 people were placed under medical observation in Siberia. The sources do not reconcile the figures.
• Whether Trump had already spoken with Putin: Al Jazeera reports Trump confirmed he had spoken with Putin and that the two sides were in 'very deep discussions' with an update likely 'probably tomorrow'; NPR, in a report dated October 7, says Trump was expected to hold a phone call with Putin later that week.
• Handling of precautionary measures: CBC reports Russian authorities 'swiftly rolled out a series of precautionary anti-epidemic measures,' and Rospotrebnadzor is quoted as saying it conducted the 'whole range of anti-epidemic measures'; an Al Jazeera related-stories headline states that Russia denied imposing anti-plague measures after the lab worker's death.
• Spelling of the deceased worker's name: the New York Post and CBC use 'Daria Shipilova'; the Straits Times uses 'Darya Shipilova.'
• Whether a second person fell ill: Rospotrebnadzor says the reports are 'fake information'; the WHO asked Russia to verify media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause and says it received information from two media outlets. No source establishes the second case either way.

• No source establishes the cause of the worker's death; Rospotrebnadzor says it was pneumonia of unknown origin and that no relevant pathogens were found, while the WHO says it does not know the causative agent and does not understand how she was infected.
• No source establishes whether any case of plague occurred, in the Irkutsk region or elsewhere, and no confirmed plague diagnosis appears in any source.
• The reported laboratory accident, including the account of a dropped test tube containing the pathogen, is unverified; the worker's mother disputes it.
• The claim of a second person falling ill is not verified by any source; Rospotrebnadzor calls it fake, and the WHO's request was based on media reports.
• No source establishes whether the pathogen involved had been modified or made antibiotic-resistant; the suggestion is raised as a hypothesis by a former CDC director, with no evidence presented.
• No autopsy findings, independent laboratory results, or independent inspection of the institute appear in any source.
• The exact number of people placed under observation or quarantine is not established, with sources giving 'hundreds' and '200.'
• No source states whether the reported quarantines at local hospitals, or the social media posts by local officials described by exiled Russian media, occurred; NPR says it has not independently confirmed those reports.
• No source establishes the outcome of the Trump-Putin call or what, if anything, US intelligence agencies concluded.
• No comment in any source from the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, where the worker was employed.
• No source states when the worker fell ill, when she was hospitalized, or what treatment she received.
• One of the seven supplied sources, an Arab News report on UK sanctions against Russian oil tankers, crypto exchanges and other entities, concerns a separate event and contains no information on the Siberian case.

1. Arab News — original — by Reuters
2. PBS NewsHour — by Associated Press
3. The Straits Times — by The Straits Times
4. New York Post — by Patrick Reilly
5. CBC News
6. Al Jazeera English — by Al Jazeera Staff
7. NPR News — by Charles Maynes

Read the original at Arab News

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