Irkutsk hospitals restrict services after suspected plague case

Authorities in Russia’s Irkutsk region said on Oct. 2 that Shelekhov district hospital had been quarantined after a patient was suspected of having a particularly dangerous infection. The restrictions followed the death of an employee of an anti-plague institute, while subsequent reports said nearly 200 people had been placed under medical observation because of possible exposure to plague.²⁵⁶⁸

Emergency measures

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev held an urgent session of the region’s public-health and epidemic-control commission alongside Anna Popova, who leads Russia’s consumer health regulator, Rospotrebnadzor. Authorities said they had adopted measures intended to contain the suspected infection, which had not then been identified.¹⁸

All identified contacts were placed under medical observation, Kobzev said. He reported that they showed no symptoms and had returned negative laboratory results, although those details were reported by one source. Later reports put the number being monitored at nearly 200.²⁵⁶⁸

Admission and discharge were suspended in several departments of Shelekhov district hospital. The outpatient clinic continued operating, while its laboratory stopped accepting tests and planned inpatient examinations were halted, according to regional reporting.⁷⁸

Cause of death remains unresolved

Rospotrebnadzor said the institute employee had been diagnosed with pneumonia whose cause had not been established. Deutsche Welle identified her as Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory assistant at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, but said an official cause of death had not been announced.²³⁵⁶

Alexey Tsydenov, who leads the adjacent Republic of Buryatia, stated that plague had caused the woman’s death. Meduza reported that he later revised his post to say she may have died of the disease. Tsydenov also said the woman had not travelled to Buryatia and that the republic had no plague foci, including along its border with Mongolia.¹²⁷⁹

Media accounts offered conflicting explanations for the possible exposure. One said Shipilova had returned from Thailand, while another alleged that she had broken a test tube containing a plague pathogen. Rospotrebnadzor, however, said it had identified neither a pathogen-related workplace accident nor microorganisms in the employee’s tests connected with her professional activity.¹⁴⁶⁷

Restrictions beyond Shelekhov

Hospitals No. 1, 3 and 10 in Irkutsk, together with the Ivanovo-Matreninsk hospital, were reportedly closed for three-week quarantines. Lyudi Baikala separately reported that the restrictions extended to a children’s hospital and a maternity hospital.²³⁴

The Irkutsk Aluminum Plant in Shelekhov introduced a mask requirement. Plant director Artem Fominykh said such measures were imposed periodically in line with the seasonal pattern of respiratory illnesses, rather than presenting the requirement as confirmation of a plague outbreak.²⁴⁷

Rospotrebnadzor said the sanitary and epidemiological situation remained stable across the Irkutsk region and in the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov. It also said that no institute employees had sought treatment for infectious illnesses during the preceding 10 days.⁴⁵⁷