Hospital in Russia’s Irkutsk region quarantined amid reports that a patient died of pneumonic plague
The inpatient department at a district hospital in Shelekhov, in Russia’s Irkutsk region, has been closed because one of its patients is suspected of having a “particularly dangerous infection.”
A district hospital in Shelekhov, Russia's Irkutsk region, has been placed under quarantine following the reported death of a patient from pneumonic plague. The inpatient department closed on October 1, with district mayor Maxim Modin confirming the quarantine the following day. Outpatient services remain operational. The deceased, identified as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, died two days after hospitalization on September 29.
Reports suggest she contracted the disease after returning from Thailand, while another account indicates she was a lab technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute who accidentally broke a test tube containing the plague pathogen. The regional government convened a special meeting on the matter. Russia's public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, is implementing comprehensive epidemic-control measures.
Contacts of the patient have been placed under medical observation, with no current signs of illness. Nearly 200 people, 189 of whom were hospitalized, are under observation. Globally, there were 3,248 plague cases and 584 deaths from 2010 to 2015, with Russia's last recorded case in 2016 involving a 10-year-old in the Altai Republic.
A plague vaccine exists, recommended for those in high-risk areas and those handling live plague cultures.
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