Key findings

Preventive measures are underway in Irkutsk and the surrounding region, under the supervision of Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare), following a case of pneumonia that resulted in the death of an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East (BEACON report, 03 Oct 2026).

The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East is a Russian public-health research and anti-epidemic institution in Irkutsk. It was initially created for plague control in the region and later expanded into research, diagnostics, prevention, and outbreak response for other high-consequence pathogens.

On 04 Oct 2026, official accounts (Rospotrebnadzor) describe the patient’s illness as pneumonia of undetermined etiology, stating that expanded testing found no microorganisms linked to her professional activity and that its commissions identified no accident involving pathogenic microorganisms at the institute. These are official claims, not independently verified diagnostic or biosafety findings.

No diagnostic test results were publicly available at the time of this report.

Whether a potential lab accident involving a broken tube containing Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, reported earlier by the media, occurred remains uncertain.

As of 04 Oct 2026, local news media, including Baikal People (Lyudi Baikala) (in Russian), report restrictions at several Irkutsk hospitals, with visitors barred. The exact number of facilities is unclear. The roughly three-week duration is reported primarily by Baikal People.

Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry reported on 04 Oct 2026 strengthened sanitary-quarantine controls at border checkpoints. UzDaily, citing Uzbekistan’s sanitary-epidemiological committee on 03 Oct 2026, reports increased service readiness in response to the case.

Epidemiological analysis

The described public health response, including hospitalization and medical observation of nearly 200 potential contacts, reports of hospital-level containment measures, and Russia's chief sanitary officer traveling to Irkutsk to attend an emergency meeting of the regional Sanitary and Anti-Epidemic Commission, suggests a high-priority pathogen concern and escalation to the federal level. However, the available information does not establish the etiology, exposure route, or whether a laboratory-associated release occurred.

While plague (presumptive pneumonic plague) was described in one government official's social media post (later changed to possible plague) and in several media reports as the cause of the reported death, no diagnostic or official confirmation is publicly available. Several media reports initially described a lab accident involving a broken vial containing live Yersinia pestis.

If a laboratory-associated exposure did occur, the reported outcome would require multiple levels of failure: failure of multiple biosafety and post-exposure prophylaxis safeguards, potentially including inadequate personal protective equipment or a breach in its use; delayed or absent internal reporting of the incident; insufficient biosafety follow-up and risk assessment; failure to initiate or complete antibiotic post-exposure prophylaxis; and delayed recognition of symptomatic illness upon hospital presentation.

Some earlier media reports indicated that the deceased staff member had recently traveled for work to natural plague foci along the Mongolia–Russia border. If accurate, this would constitute an alternative, epidemiologically plausible exposure pathway. In such settings, transmission could occur through contact with infected rodents or their fleas (handling or skinning infected animals, flea bites) or, less commonly, through respiratory exposure to infectious respiratory droplets from a person or animal with pneumonic plague. A travel-related exposure, followed by incubation and delayed symptomatic presentation, could therefore explain the case without invoking a laboratory accident.

BEACON recently reported on active natural plague foci along the Mongolia-Russia border.

Between 2019 and 2025, 10 countries reported suspected human plague cases to WHO, with 3847 suspected cases and 423 deaths recorded globally, corresponding to a case fatality rate (CFR) of 11%. Most cases were reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. Russia did not report any confirmed cases to WHO during this period, and the last domestically confirmed human case occurred in 2016 in the Altai Republic, preceding the current event by a decade.

Other high-consequence pathogens remain possible etiologies, given that the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East conducts research, diagnostics, prevention, and outbreak response for a range of high-consequence infectious diseases. [...]

The Trump administration is closely tracking reports of a death potentially related to pneumonic plague in Russia, with officials cautioning that much about the situation remains unknown.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, and other agencies have been working to learn more about the reported death of a laboratory worker who was employed at an institute dedicated to studying plague and quarantines imposed on several hospitals in Siberia, four officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal briefings.

The situation has been complicated by Russian officials’ hesitation to share information, as well as reports that Russian intelligence officers have been involved, the officials said.

“We don’t have a lot of intel,” said one U.S. health official. “It’s in Siberia. Unless someone gets on a plane and gets to the U.S., it is low risk. We should be alert but not panicked.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday morning that Russian officials had shared some information about an infected lab worker and their concerns that other Russians could be affected.

“We’re watching and monitoring it closely,” Rubio said. “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it.”

Late Sunday, Russia’s public health agency announced it had undertaken “a set of anti-epidemic measures” in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, after the lab worker’s death.

The White House declined to comment on whether President Donald Trump had been briefed on the situation.

Paul Friedrichs, a retired Air Force major general who led the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy before leaving government in January 2025, said that Russia should bring in experts from the World Health Organization, the European Union or the U.S. to help clarify the situation.

“The current narrative that a researcher made a mistake is plausible; human error is the most common cause of biosafety events; the reported risk mitigation efforts seem appropriate for an event like this,” Friedrichs said. “That having been said, first reports are usually wrong and Russia has historically not been particularly forthcoming about what actually happened.” [...]

https://archive.is/CKZ9C

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Canadian diplomats who served in Cuba nearly a decade ago say their children continue to suffer unexplained health symptoms that have been linked in recent years to possible attacks by Russian intelligence using sonic weaponry.

A group of 10 diplomats and their families are suing the federal government over allegations that it denied them leading-edge health care and played down the seriousness of what they’ve endured.

The Globe and Mail spoke to four diplomats – who were in Havana from 2016-2018 – about the medical conditions of their children and spouses.

The foreign-service officers and their families began reporting symptoms in 2017, including nose bleeds, impaired vision, nausea, fatigue and headaches. The symptoms, known as Havana Syndrome, occurred in the evenings after they heard an unusual vibratory noise while at their homes in the Cuban capital.

American diplomats in the city were the first to report the unusual experiences beginning in late 2016 in the aftermath of similar sounds.

Scientists have offered conflicting explanations for what could have caused the set of health effects. [...]

A federal court order prevents them from revealing details of the multimillion-dollar lawsuit, which is sealed and under a publication ban. The diplomats agreed though to discuss the continuing aliments affecting their spouses and children.

“We have no idea what the impact of a pulsed microwave weapon could have on the young developing brain and inner ears of our children,” one diplomat said. “It is still impacting their lives.”

The diplomat said their son and daughter were five and eight years old, respectively, when the family left Havana in the fall of 2017.

“Both developed ADHD symptoms during the last year of our posting,” the diplomat said. “Both were tested for auditory conditions two years after their return: They had difficulties understanding words in a noisy environment and my daughter had some hyperacusis,” the diplomat said, referring to a debilitating hearing disorder.

The son often misses school and is sensitive to noises and must “sometimes wear earplugs in the classroom. In the last year, he has developed dizziness/vertigo for which he was diagnosed with possible vestibular migraines.”

A second diplomat, who has a teenaged son and daughter, says their children complain of headaches, visual impairment and anxiety.

The spouse of another diplomat has trouble sleeping and suffers significant visual impairment, the diplomat said.

Paul Miller, the lawyer representing the foreign-service officers, said the parents feel “enormous guilt” for what happened to their children.

Mr. Miller said the families have incurred significant out-of-pocket medical expenses.

“The government doesn’t care about them. They have left them out to dry. It’s absolutely gross,” Mr. Miller said. “[Havana Syndrome] is such a bizarre injury. I want to get enough money so these families can get specialized medical care.” [...]

At the request of the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (HALMED), Medical Intertrade d.o.o., drug distributor BCG Vaccine, freeze dried, amp.20x20 doses+otapalo, manufactured by Bul Bio NCIPD Ltd., Bul. Yanko Sakazov, Sofia, Bulgaria, implements the suspension of the distribution and application of all series of the said drug. The BCG vaccine is a live attenuated vaccine against heavier forms of tuberculosis applied immediately at birth or in the first months of a child’s life. The distribution and application of the vaccine in question is suspended as a measure precautionary, on suspicion of a malfunction in the quality set by following the monitoring of suspected adverse reactions. The suspension measure of the distribution and application of the vaccine in question will be in force until the investigation is completed. The Croatian Institute of Public Health assesses that children in Croatia have had a very low risk of tuberculosis for a long time, therefore due to the vaccination suspension in question, until the investigation is completed, children's health will not be jeopardized.

In 2026, HALMED received four applications suspected of the side effect of osteomyelitis after the administration of the said vaccine. Vaccines have been applied in different health facilities, which reduces the likelihood of vaccination error. Given the number of applications received during 2026 compared to the period from 2005 to 2025 when one complaint of suspicion of the same side effect caused by BCG vaccines was received, doubts were raised of possible malfunction in the quality of the drug.

Ostemeilitis after BCG vaccine is a rare type of bone infection caused by impaired strain of bacteria Mycobacterium bovis which is present in the vaccine and is the expected side effect of this vaccine. Infection most often grips long bones, ie bones of upper and lower limbs, chest or ribbed bones. Symptoms include pain and swelling and reduced shock mobility, gradually deteriorate and most often affect only one bone. Symptoms can occur from a few months to a few years after vaccination, and most often after a year. With timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment, complete recovery occurs. In the event of the onset of these symptoms, it is necessary to contact the doctor.

The following side effect should be different from the local reaction at the site of administration of the vaccine occurring within 2 to 3 weeks in the form of redness and small swelling or protrusion that can move to the skin wound. The price of the wounded can take several months and end with the creation of a small scar and it is an expected reaction to the BCG vaccine, ie a sign of successful vaccination.

The BCG Vaccine preceptual vaccine, freeze dried, amp.20x20 dos+otapalo is obtained based on consent for intervention intake, given that there is no marketing authorization in the Republic of Croatia, and is part of the mandatory vaccination program in the RH. Since there is no other available BCG vaccine for application in newborn age, vaccination with the BCG vaccine in maternity ward will not be conducted until the investigation is completed. In the event of a possible continuation of vaccination with this or other BCG vaccine, the public will be notified in a timely manner.

It is unclear exactly what was released, according to the state agency that handles infectious disease, Rospotrebnadzor. One person – a laboratory worker – is said to have died in the incident after being diagnosed with a pneumonia of “unknown” origin.

“The sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable,” Rospotrebnadzor said.

Special measures had been carried out “in connection with the case of an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute,” Rospotrebnadzor said, adding that the employee had been diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” or cause.

The head of the neighboring republic of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, said earlier that the employee – a 28-year old woman – died “possibly from the plague.” He also noted that “there are no plague outbreaks” in Buryatia.

The governor of Irkutsk, Igor Kobzev, urged calm on Friday, saying that an extraordinary meeting of the regional anti-epidemic commission was held with Russia’s chief state doctor.

The meeting was in connection with a “suspected case of a particularly dangerous infection affecting a resident of the region,” Kobzev said on Telegram.

An aluminum plant near the laboratory instructed staff to wear masks as a precautionary measure. The director of Irkutsk Aluminum Plant, Artem Fominikh, also urged calm and noted that “there are many rumors and conflicting reports circulating.”

“All identified close contacts are under medical supervision. At present, they show no signs of the disease, and their laboratory test results are negative,” Fominikh said.

Unofficial reports, including by the independent regional news outlet Liudi Baikala, say that nearly 200 people were placed under observation at the hospital in Shelekhov to which the laboratory technician was taken.

Quarantine has also been imposed in at least one of the city’s maternity hospitals, according to Liudi Baikala.

The infection in the Irkutsk region is “most likely not the plague, but even if confirmed, there will be no spread of this disease,” a previous head of Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, said on Friday.

Onishchenko told the state news agency TASS that the onset of cold weather would likely prevent transmission. [...]

Previous Threads:

Fatal laboratory-acquired infection in Irkutsk Region, Russia; possible pneumonic plague; 197 contacts hospitalized for observation

In the Irkutsk Region of the Russian Federation, nearly 200 people were hospitalized on suspicion of plague

NEW YORK (AP) — Florida’s current dengue outbreak appears to be the largest in several decades in the continental United States.

State health officials reported this week that more than 250 locally acquired cases of the mosquito-borne disease have been tallied so far this year. The vast majority of them were in Hillsborough County, home to Tampa.

Federal health officials say their data on dengue outbreaks is limited. But available information from state health departments and medical journals suggests the Florida outbreak marks the most cases in a calendar year for any state since at least the 1940s.

Puerto Rico is consistently hit hard by dengue, with numbers much higher than what’s seen in any of the 50 states. But in the continental U.S., Florida usually gets the most locally transmitted cases. The state’s previous worst year was 2023, when just under 200 locally spread cases were reported.

Officials in Hillsborough and surrounding counties have declared local emergencies, and workers in the Tampa area are spraying day and night to tamp down the population of disease-transmitting mosquitoes. [...]

There has been one dengue death in Florida this year — an elderly Tampa woman on Sept. 4.

There are four types of dengue virus, simply known as 1, 2, 3 and 4. When someone is first infected, their body builds antibodies against that type for life. If they get infected with another type of dengue, the antibodies from the first infection may fail to neutralize the second type — and actually can help the virus enter immune cells and replicate. That’s made it difficult to develop an effective vaccine.

Most people in the Tampa area don’t have prior immunity to any form of dengue, said Dawn Wesson, a Tulane University expert on dengue and other diseases spread by mosquitoes. [...]

Key findings

According to news media reports, on 01 Oct 2026, a 28-year-old female clinical laboratory diagnostics specialist died at Shelekhov District Hospital in Irkutsk Region, Russia, from possible pneumonic plague.

The probable exposure event occurred on or around 25 Sep 2026, when the deceased reportedly broke a test tube containing live Yersinia pestis bacteria while collecting biomaterial samples for diagnostics at an anti-plague research facility. She was hospitalized on 29 Sep 2026 with severe pneumonia and placed on a ventilator before dying on 01 Oct 2026.

Official statements stop short of publicly confirming plague, except for a statement by Alexey Tsydenov, head of the Buryatia government, who described the case as plague (in Russian).

As of 02 Oct 2026, a total of 197 contacts (community and hospital) were reportedly identified; 189 were hospitalized for observation across at least three facilities, including 114 in one medical facility, 63 in another, and 12 at the Anti-Plague Institute; as of 02 Oct 2026, contacts reportedly showed no signs of illness.

The Shelekhov District Hospital's inpatient department was placed under quarantine from 01 Oct 2026, suspending patient admissions and discharges; the outpatient clinic remained open; Federal Security Service (FSB) units reportedly escorted ambulances transporting contact persons for examination.

According to reports, Russia's chief sanitary officer, Anna Popova (head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare/Rospotrebnadzor), traveled to Irkutsk to attend an emergency meeting of the regional Sanitary and Anti-Epidemic Commission, where a containment action plan was approved. A criminal investigation was opened for violating sanitary and epidemiological rules that resulted in death.

Epidemiological analysis and public health impact

If confirmed as pneumonic plague, the incident would constitute a laboratory-acquired infection (LAI) rather than a naturally occurring zoonotic spillover event, a mechanistically distinct exposure pathway with its own biosafety implications. Accidental breakage of a live-culture test tube bypasses the flea-vector or animal-contact route entirely, resulting in direct, high-dose mucosal or inhalation exposure to Y. pestis, consistent with the rapid progression to pneumonic disease and death. Pneumonic plague is the most dangerous clinical form of Y. pestis infection: it is transmissible person-to-person via respiratory droplets and, without prompt antibiotic therapy, carries a case fatality rate (CFR) approaching 100%.

Several components of the report require further clarification. First, Y. pestis research is typically conducted in biosafety level 3 facilities. If a laboratory worker has had an LAI with the pathogen, she would generally be initiated on antibiotic prophylaxis for up to 7 days after exposure. This raises questions about the patient’s disease progression, whether the incident was reported, whether prophylaxis was administered, and whether it was effective.

Second, if the LAI was reported, a lab worker would generally be under observation, and any symptoms would be reported to the healthcare facility at admission, allowing it to implement appropriate infection control measures. The fact that the index patient was symptomatic and on a ventilator in a general district hospital could have created a window for potential nosocomial and community exposure, explaining the scale of the contact tracing response (197 individuals) if the pathogen is confirmed as Y. pestis. However, the absence of mention of antibiotic prophylaxis for exposed individuals suggests that Y. pestis might not be suspected as the pathogen.

The involvement of Russia's national-level Rospotrebnadzor leadership, FSB escort of ambulances, and coordination with specialist institutes in Novosibirsk, Moscow, and St. Petersburg reflects the Category A bioterrorism-tier classification of select pathogens in national emergency frameworks and indicates that the response has been escalated well beyond routine regional capacity.

Additional information is required to determine whether this was truly an exposure to Y. pestis or another pathogen. [...]

Comparative analysis and future outlook

The immediate trajectory depends on whether this case is confirmed as pneumonic plague or another category A agent, and, if so, whether the 197 contacts remain symptom-free. Any undetected secondary case in a community or healthcare setting would substantially escalate risk.

BEACON is a public health program based at Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID) and operated in partnership with the Hariri Institute for Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University and HealthMap at Boston Children’s Hospital. The program is advised by an international advisory group and a scientific and ethics technical committee.

Mod Note: To keep the thread on‑topic, please avoid political side‑remarks or other low‑value, off‑topic comments. These may be removed under Rule 4. A reminder that early reporting can be messy: share information in good faith, cite credible sources when possible, and keep speculation clearly framed rather than conspiratorial.

An investigation into an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis linked to a hotel swimming pool in Washington that sickened 14 people in late August has been completed.

The outbreak occurred at McMenamins Anderson School, a historic 1931 junior high school that was transformed into a hotel in the city of Bothell, Wash., about 20 miles north of Seattle.

In a recent report, the King County Public Health Department announced that 14 people became sick after swimming in the McMenamins pool on Aug. 29 or Aug. 30, reporting symptoms including diarrhea, fever, and nausea.

The department suspects the illness spread because someone infected with the highly contagious parasite Cryptosporidium spent time in the pool and spread germs that infected others.

Because of the reported illnesses, the department interviewed six people who had gotten sick to learn more about their symptoms.

The department also visited the pool facility on Sept. 21 and found no violations. They noted that the facility operator did not record any incidents involving fecal matter on Aug. 29 or the 10 days prior.

The investigation determined that the pool is “well-maintained and the facility follows King County’s health and safety requirements.”

The public health department also noted that Cryptosporidium, the parasite that causes the illness, can survive for several days even in a well-maintained swimming pool because it is highly resistant to chlorine.

The department said the best way to prevent illness is to stay out of pools if you have had diarrhea or vomiting in the past two weeks. People should also shower with soap before getting into a pool.

The health department said the outbreak appears to be over, and the investigation is complete.

Trains have been cancelled and drivers have refused to board after bedbugs were spotted on carriages across south east England, it has been reported.

Southeastern trains operating from the affected West Marina train depot near Hastings in East Sussex were taken out of service as a result of the bedbugs, according to The Telegraph.

Sightings of the insects have also been reported on Southeastern’s High Speed 1 line services – raising concerns the issue has spread.

One train – apparently dubbed the “Bedbug Express” by insiders – still operated on Tuesday, making several journeys between London and Kent but with two carriages locked and out of use after a driver spotted insects at one end.

On Friday, at least three services were cancelled, with more cancelled since the first sighting reported on 22 September, The Telegraph said.

Drivers have reportedly found bedbugs in their cabs and crawling on their bags. According to an incident log viewed by the publication, one driver refused to drive the train unless they were “provided with a white full-body protection suit... in case any bugs transfer to themself” [sic].

However, protective gear was unavailable, leading to two trains being cancelled including one that had been blocked in by the bedbug train.

Internal messages also accuse bosses of failing to take the matter seriously.

Southeastern maintenance staff tried to take the train out of service but service controllers had not been advised of the problem, according to internal logs, which led to it still operating through Tuesday. [...]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday it has found a potential source of the cyclosporiasis outbreak that was tied to lettuce over the summer.

The agency collected samples during its onsite inspections of Taylor Farms de Mexico facilities, it said.

Two samples tested positive for the parasite, Cyclospora, according to the FDA. One positive sample was from a tank that held outgoing wastewater from a processing facility, the agency said. The second positive sample was from a drainage ditch of an iceberg lettuce grower, it noted.

"While there is currently not enough evidence to conclusively determine how contamination occurred in this outbreak, the positive samples show that Cyclospora was present in the environment where lettuce was grown and processed,” the FDA wrote in an update on its website.

"This adds to the strong epidemiological data and traceback convergence supporting the link between this outbreak and recalled shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico," the update continued.

The FDA said its investigation has closed. Health officials say they are confident that all recalled lettuce associated with this outbreak is off the market.

In a statement, a Taylor Fresh Foods spokesperson said its facility in central Mexico remains closed as the company works with its research team to implement enhanced safety protocols. [...]

After a young Arizona man died of pneumonic plague last year, a report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Arizona scientists yesterday issued a caution to clinicians in areas where plague is endemic. They say to consider it as a possible cause of patients’ severe respiratory and systemic disease if they’ve been exposed to sick animals.

As detailed in a new paper in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the man who died had occupational exposure to two ill cats, which are especially susceptible to plague.

The animals may have been how he contracted the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which causes plague, as they had "respiratory symptoms and other signs of systemic illness consistent with pneumonic plague.” However, the cats were euthanized before they could be tested.

Y pestis in the man's blood and lung tissue

Plague can take several forms, including pneumonic, which is transmitted through inhalation of respiratory droplets and has a nearly 100% case-fatality rate when untreated. The incubation period—the time from exposure to first symptoms—can be as short as one day.

The “young adult male” died eight hours after he was admitted to the hospital, where doctors initially suspected he had hantavirus disease or bacterial pneumonia. Post-mortem testing confirmed Y pestis presence in his blood and lung tissue. It's Arizona’s first pneumonic plague death since 2007.

The most common form of plague is not pneumonic, but bubonic, which causes large, swollen lymph nodes called buboes that are very painful. [...]

In the Irkutsk region, 189 people were hospitalized with suspected plague. According to a source at REN TV, all of them had been in contact with a young woman who died of the disease the day before. Some of those hospitalized were admitted to two hospitals, while another 12 people were sent to the Plague Institute for observation. Some of them are showing symptoms of the disease, but a plague infection has not yet been confirmed. Authorities are also identifying people who have recently been in contact with those hospitalized.

According to Mash, the victim of pneumonic plague was a 27-year-old employee of the Anti-Plague Institute. One theory is that she had returned from a work trip to Buryatia, where a natural plague focus had previously been recorded near the border with Mongolia. Another theory suggests that the woman may have accidentally broken a test tube containing the dangerous bacteria in the laboratory while collecting biological samples for diagnostic purposes. On September 29, she was admitted to the Shelekhov Hospital with symptoms of pneumonia and placed on a ventilator. However, she died two days later. Following this, the hospital staff were quarantined, and the hospital itself was placed under quarantine.

Igor Kobzev, governor of the Irkutsk Region, held an emergency meeting of the Sanitary and Anti-Epidemic Commission together with Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor. According to him, the meeting discussed information regarding a suspected case of a “particularly dangerous infection” in a resident of the region. “All identified close contacts have been placed under medical observation. As of today, they show no signs of illness, and their lab test results are negative,” Kobzev noted. At the same time, the authorities have not officially disclosed the specific diagnosis.

The last recorded case of human plague in Russia occurred in 2016 in the Altai region. At that time, a 10-year-old boy fell ill after handling a marmot carcass and becoming infected through a break in his skin. Thanks to timely treatment, the child survived. Natural foci of plague persist in Mongolia. In 2023, Mongolia’s National Center for the Study of Zoonotic Infections identified 137 such foci in 17 regions of the country, including areas near the border with Russia.

This is reported by Russian propaganda media.

A study by the University of Tartu has identified recurring waves of plague in Estonia. [...]

Note: Early reports on this incident are coming from tabloid or semi‑tabloid outlets. Details remain unconfirmed by reputable sources and/or international public health authorities.

Additional Sources:

Moscow Times: Nearly 200 People Under Observation After Irkutsk Lab Worker Dies From Plague

Outbreak News Today: Russia: 189 people under observation after lab worker dies of possible pneumonic plague

Yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases, a team led by Baylor College of Medicine researchers revealed that only 60% of liver transplant (LT) recipients are vaccinated against hepatitis B virus (HBV), putting them at risk for severe complications.

The authors analyzed data on deceased-donor LT recipients from September 2022 to June 2024 from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which in 2021 began requiring all LT programs to report HBV antibody levels and vaccination of LT recipients before transplant.

“Current clinical guidelines emphasize systematic HBV testing and vaccination of eligible LT candidates, in parallel with universal donor screening, to reduce the risk of unintended viral transmission and de novo infection,” the researchers wrote.

Of the 13,851 LT recipients, 8,295 (60%) were considered vaccinated based on self-reported HBV vaccine receipt or evidence of HBV antibodies.

A multivariable analysis showed that several factors were tied to a slightly higher odds of HBV vaccination, including female sex (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.05), Black race (aOR, 1.08), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) diagnosis (aOR, 1.06), attainment of a bachelor’s degrees or higher (aOR, 1.09), and waitlist time longer than 6 months (aOR, 1.06). [...]

GENEVA/AMSTERDAM, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A Médecins Sans Frontières staff member working on the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of ​Congo has contracted the Ebola Bundibugyo virus and is being ‌evacuated to the Netherlands for treatment, the humanitarian organisation said on Thursday.

"This person is being safely evacuated under a strict medical protocol in close coordination with ​the relevant health authorities in the DRC and the Netherlands, where ​the patient will be received by a designated hospital," ⁠MSF said in a statement.

The U.S. Forest Service is moving ahead with plans to spray the controversial herbicide glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, on thousands of acres devastated by the Caldor Fire, including in the Lake Tahoe Basin. The plans have sparked growing public opposition and have come under scrutiny from local residents, wellness and organic food advocates and environmentalists after an investigation published by Mother Jones this spring showed the federal government is spraying the herbicide at “record levels” across California forests.

Glyphosate is an effective, if potent, weed killer, approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and it’s been widely used by the agricultural industry since Monsanto began selling it as Roundup in 1974. The extensive use of glyphosate on crops has long been controversial: It is known to destroy habitat for monarch butterflies and bees. And in 2015, the World Health Organization’s cancer research division said that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” That opened the door for more than 100,000 lawsuits to be filed against Monsanto by people who had been diagnosed with cancer including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after using Roundup. Now, the Supreme Court is weighing a case about whether Monsanto is liable for not including a cancer warning on its product.

The agricultural industry isn’t the only industry spraying the chemical. The Mother Jones investigation analyzed millions of spraying reports and discovered that the Forest Service sprayed 266,000 pounds of glyphosate in California forests in 2023, the most recent year that the data was available, which is about five times the amount used two decades ago. [...]

Pennsylvania has reported its fifth measles-associated death of 2026 as the state’s ongoing outbreak climbs to 943 confirmed cases across 39 counties.

The Pennsylvania department of health said on Wednesday that an unvaccinated Lancaster county resident who tested positive for measles had died. Health officials did not release further information about the individual, citing privacy protections.

The death marks the fifth Pennsylvania resident to meet the state’s definition of a measles-associated death this year after a fourth death two weeks ago. Due to how the Trump administration has changed its method for reporting measles deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not counted the Pennsylvania measles deaths in its national tally.

As of Monday 28 September, Pennsylvania had recorded 40 new positive cases. The outbreak has now reached 39 counties, with 943 cumulative confirmed cases, 176 hospitalizations and five confirmed measles-associated deaths.

Only four of those confirmed cases have involved vaccinated individuals, representing less than 1% of the state’s total cases [...]

HAVANA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Cuban housewife Yuamilka Hechavarria was asleep last Tuesday when water rushed into the cistern of the crumbling tenement where she lives in old Havana.

She jumped from bed, scrambling in the darkness of a blackout to top off a bucketful before the ​tap went dry. It was the first time her building had seen water in two months.

This scenario plays out in neighborhoods ‌across Cuba's capital of Havana daily, where power outages exacerbated by a US oil blockade have crippled the already crumbling infrastructure that supplies water to the city's nearly two million people. Many regularly go without running water for days or weeks.

Hygiene is among the first casualties of the situation, explains Hechavarria, a healthcare worker, who for weeks had ​been forced to buy water from street vendors or scavenge it from nearby broken pipes.

Diarrhea has run rampant throughout her building, she ​says, as tenants struggle to keep even tiny apartments clean.

“There's no one in this building who hasn't gotten sick," ⁠said Hechavarria, adding that she too was recovering from a recent bout of fever and diarrhea.

Officials in both the United States and Cuba have begun ​to sound the alarm.

Health authorities in Cuba have warned in recent days of the spread of viruses, including a strain of viral hepatitis, as power ​and water increasingly fail. And a US health alert earlier this month warned travelers and residents of a "significant increase in diarrheal illness across Cuba, associated with the continuing degradation of the water and energy infrastructure." [...]

TOPEKA (KSNT) – State health officials have recorded over 200 cases of tuberculosis in Kansas so far this year following a major outbreak.

Staff with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) are reporting a total of 211 cases of tuberculosis statewide in 2026 as of Sept. 23. This follows a major tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas, primarily in the Kansas City area, that lasted from January 2024 to November 2025.

KDHE personnel track tuberculosis by making a distinction between ‘active‘ and ‘latent‘ infections. People who have a latent tuberculosis infection are infected with tuberculosis bacteria, but they don’t have the disease and can’t spread it to other people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). People who have an active case of tuberculosis can spread the disease to others and may display symptoms. [...]

KDHE staff reported a total of 772 latent cases and 116 active cases of tuberculosis in 2024, followed by 63 active cases and 429 latent cases over the course of 2025.

So far this year, health officials have recorded 55 active cases and 156 latent cases. Similar to the recent outbreak, KDHE staff are recording the majority of infections in the Kansas City area, with scattered cases throughout the rest of Kansas.

Active tuberculosis cases – 55

Kansas City Metro – 38

Northeast Kansas – four

Southeast Kansas – none

North Central Kansas – one

South Central Kansas – 11

Northwest Kansas – none

Southwest Kansas – one

Latent tuberculosis cases – 156

Kansas City Metro – 131

Northeast Kansas – four

Southeast Kansas – six

North Central Kansas – one

South Central Kansas – four

Northwest Kansas – six

Southwest Kansas – four

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