Russia’s health watchdog has said there is no epidemic risk to the public following the reported death of a laboratory technician from plague in Siberia last week.
The agency, Rospotrebnadzor, said Wednesday that the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region was “calm”, amid calls for greater transparency over the incident.
Russian news outlet People of Baikal reported last Friday that a 28-year-old woman working at a plague research institute in the region had died of the disease, possibly after being exposed through a broken test tube.
Russian authorities have disputed the report, saying the woman died of pneumonia and that the cause of death remained “undetermined”.
Rospotrebnadzor said investigations had found “no emergencies” and that the laboratory had followed proper procedures for handling pathogenic microorganisms.
“More than 90 percent of contacts have completed medical observation,” the agency said, adding that no infectious disease-related health problems had been detected.
It said nearly 5,000 laboratory tests found no dangerous pathogenic microorganisms and noted that the woman had been vaccinated and had immunity against the infections she worked with.
Despite ruling out an epidemic risk, the agency said it had introduced precautionary “anti-epidemic measures” in line with health regulations.
Rospotrebnadzor also said it had informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the situation in accordance with international health regulations.
The statement came as the WHO, the United States and the European Union called for greater transparency over the incident.
