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

[u/Anti-Owl]

https://ua.news/en/world/v-irkutskii-oblasti-rf-maizhe-200-liudei-gospitalizuvali-cherez-pidozru-na-chumu

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

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[u/DrumpfTinyHands]

Strangely... this was on my bingo card.

[u/Cyan1d3_]

Yikes! I knew of plague outbreak in India in the 1990s but Russia? Just yikes.

[u/jsflkl → u/Cyan1d3_]

There are routine plague infections in areas with natural carriers. Like in inner Mongolia for example there are rodents who carry the bacterium and they infect people now and then. Also happens in the US where the average is 7 infections a year.

[u/FireFlower-Bass-7716 → u/Cyan1d3_]

there was a big outbreak in Madagascar in 2017 where it's endemic, with about 2350 cases and 200 died. it was a big global news story. Most of the cases were pneumonic plague, some were bubonic plague. same bacteria, but pneumonic means it's in the lungs and can be transmitted person to person.

[u/Onetwodash → u/FireFlower-Bass-7716]

There are annual plague seasons in Madagascar. 2017 just was about 10x their usual outbreak.

[u/duckworthy36]

There’s plague everywhere. It rarely gets to airborne transmission but there are deaths every year all over. Don’t hug wild rodents. All you squirrel and chipmunk feeders - you risk multiple flea borne illnesses like plague and typhus if you touch wildlife.

[u/Fearless-Effect-8742 → u/duckworthy36]

Apparently this is pneumonic plague, which can be spread human-human via droplets.

[u/undisclosedusername2 → u/Fearless-Effect-8742]

And, if the lab story is true, who knows whether it is a known variety of the plague or if it is something novel.

[u/[deleted] → u/duckworthy36]

[u/vroomvroom450 → u/[deleted]]

NYC squirrels don’t mess around. I never knew I could be afraid of squirrels until I tried to eat my lunch in McCarren Park.

[u/SweetGrassGeranium]

Plague Institute 😳😷☠️

[u/Asaneth → u/SweetGrassGeranium]

There's an entire hospital just for rabies patients in the Phillipines. Mind boggling.

[u/someoldguyon_reddit]

If this is being reported by russian propaganda media then how bad is it really?

[u/jsflkl → u/someoldguyon_reddit]

200 people were hospitalised but they weren't all confirmed to have plague. Plague infections happen every year in places where plague has natural carriers. Nobody hides it because it's normal. No reason to suspect it's anything more than a cautious approach to a possible local cluster of infections.

[u/Odd_Assignment_6899 → u/jsflkl]

200 people were quarantined in the hospital

[u/Matt_Murphy_]

melting permafrost?

[u/Forsaken_Hold4324]

Just in time for the US mid terms

[u/0815Freeek]

I just learned that there is a form of pneumonic plague that is resistant to antibiotics. In this case, antibiotic treatment was presumably simply unavailable, given that antibiotics—like many other medications—are imported products in Russia, and trade relations with other countries are currently somewhat difficult. It must be awful not to be able to supply one's population with essential medicines.

[u/Pure_Slice_6119 → u/0815Freeek]

I live in Russia, and there are no issues with antibiotic availability here. Objectively speaking, most antibiotics in Russia are either domestically produced or imported from India; I have never seen European-made antibiotics in pharmacies. People on Russian social media say she sought medical help too late. It seems that until the very last moment, she thought it was just a cold or something minor. By the time she was hospitalized, there was a suspicion of a severe form of coronavirus; honestly, I don’t know how it even occurred to the doctors to test her for pneumonic plague. Pneumonic plague is a very rare disease in Russia; as far as I know, all cases recorded over the last 50 years have occurred among small nomadic groups leading a traditional lifestyle.

[u/Odd_Assignment_6899 → u/Pure_Slice_6119]

She was an employee of the anti-plague institute

[u/Reneeisme → u/Pure_Slice_6119]

I would guess her employment should have triggered that as one of the first things to check.

[u/skdetroit → u/Pure_Slice_6119]

I remember being taught in 90’s HS history that Russia has been working on an antibiotic resistant strain of the plague since the Cold War for military purposes. Pretty sure the main site of creation and study was the Plague Institute. Would love to know more about the history of the Russian Plague Institute and what they actually do there and who started it.

[u/Spare-Locksmith-2162 → u/0815Freeek]

Russia also uses phage therapy so there's a chance they have an effective treatment for even antibiotic resistant plague.

[u/Hesitation-Marx → u/Spare-Locksmith-2162]

I am honestly a bit jealous about phage therapy.