Russian authorities stated on Thursday that…'no infectious disease » had not been detected following medical monitoring of all people who had been in contact with a laboratory technician working on the plague in Siberia, who died of a « pneumonia“.
“ Medical monitoring of all individuals who had contact with the patient has been completed. No health problems related to an infectious disease have been detected.«" announced on the Max Igor Kobzev messaging app, the governor of the Irkutsk region where the lab technician was employed.
According to him, nearly 5,000 laboratory analyses were carried out and "« did not reveal the presence of any dangerous pathogenic microorganisms“.
The death of this laboratory technician, who worked for the Irkutsk Institute for Plague Control in Siberia, was announced on Friday, October 2. The case has raised fears of infection with the disease and calls for transparency.
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«"No emergency situations related to the handling of pathogenic microorganisms were observed."»
Confirming previously reported information, Mr. Kobzev stated on Thursday that the young woman had died of a "« community-acquired pneumonia«", that is to say, outside the laboratory where she was employed.
He further emphasized that the lab technician« had been vaccinated and had immunity against the dangerous infections she was working with »and that she was acting in the« compliance with required control measures during the handling of pathogenic microorganisms“.
“ No emergency situations related to the handling of pathogenic microorganisms were observed within the institute.«" he added.
The United States, the European Union and the World Health Organization had urged Russian authorities in recent days to provide more information about the death of this 28-year-old woman.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, stated on Wednesday that "the« vast majority »"Information published in the media about the death of this woman was"« false“.
The Russian health agency Rospotrebnadzor had previously stated that post-mortem analyses performed on the laboratory technician concluded that she had died of a "« pneumonia of undetermined origin“.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. Pneumonic plague is highly contagious and can be fatal if not treated promptly, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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