Suspected pneumonic plague case in Siberia puts health agencies on alert

The US State Department has urged Russia to ‘quickly and openly’ share information on the death of a 28-year-old Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute worker, reportedly after a lab accident involving the pneumonic plague pathogen.

Daria Shipilova, an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, died after what officials describe as a laboratory accident involving Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague. Authorities have quarantined the hospital where she died and dozens of its staff.

Washington framed the appeal as a transparency test, saying timely and open information-sharing is essential to rule out wider risk. Moscow, for its part, insists the region is stable and that the situation is under control.

Pneumonic plague is the rarest and most severe form of the disease — it attacks the lungs and can spread person-to-person — which is why even a single reported lab case draws immediate international scrutiny.