MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - No pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases were detected among any of the contacts of the lab worker in Russia's Siberia region who died last week of suspected plague, according to the test results provided by Russian health authorities to the World Health Organization.
Dozens have been quarantined following the death of Russian lab technician Darya Shipilova last week due to suspected plague case.
The 28-year-old woman, who was working at an anti-plague research institute in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, died on October 2 after developing severe pneumonia.
She reportedly contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube and died at a hospital in Shelekhov.
The hospital was quarantined, and at least 197 people were put under observation. Several other local hospitals began enforcing a three-week quarantine, and public events in the city were cancelled.
Former head of the national public health agency Rospotrebnadzor stated that the cause of the death is 'most likely not the plague, but even if confirmed, there will be no spread of this disease'. No one under observation had tested positive for infection, according to Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev.
WHO said on Tuesday that it was following the situation closely.
The authorities are looking into whether pneumonic plague caused her death, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva.
He underscored that her workplace was 'an institute that studies dangerous pathogens, including plague, in a part of Siberia where plague occurs naturally in wild animals.'
Plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis usually found in small mammals and their fleas.
Pneumonic plague occurs when the bacteria infect the lungs. WHO notes that this form of plague infection is especially contagious and 'can trigger severe epidemics through person-to-person transmission via respiratory particles'.
According to WHO, pneumonic plague 'can be fatal within 18 to 24 hours of disease onset if left untreated, but common antibiotics for enterobacteria can effectively cure the disease if they are delivered early'.
No cause of death has been officially confirmed to date and laboratory testing is reportedly underway, Lindmeier said.
Sharing with reporters a message received from the Russian health authorities, the WHO spokesperson said that 'according to the test results, no pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases were detected among any of the contacts.'
The authorities' message indicated that the illness 'initially presented as a typical acute respiratory viral infection'.
Lindmeier said that all of the patients' contacts have reportedly been identified and are being monitored, and 'none to date have shown symptoms of illness.'
He added that WHO's initial risk assessment from the information available 'estimates the risk to be moderate to low for Irkutsk, a low risk for the Russian Federation as a whole and very low for the WHO European region'.
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