GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking more information from Russia after a laboratory worker at an anti-plague research institute died following severe infection, while reports of a second employee with unexplained pneumonia have raised further questions about a possible laboratory-related health risk.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, Oct. 7, that the agency needs complete, and transparent information from Russian authorities to determine what caused the illness and assess whether the incident poses a wider public health threat.
The worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute died on Oct. 2 after being hospitalized, Tedros said. Early media reports suggested the employee may have developed pneumonic plague following an alleged accidental exposure inside the laboratory.
“WHO has been actively following up on the reported death of a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute,” Tedros said in a post on X.
The WHO contacted Russian authorities under the International Health Regulations, a legally binding framework that requires countries to share information about public health events that could pose risks across international borders.
Tedros said the agency has requested additional details and the pathogen that led Russian authorities to take public health measures, as well as reports of a second laboratory employee.
The WHO said transparent and timely information is necessary to resolve conflicting reports and determine the potential public health implications of the incident.
Based on the information currently available, the WHO assessed the risk as moderate to low in the Irkutsk region, low across Russia and very low in Europe. The agency has not confirmed that the laboratory worker died from plague.
The WHO said it remains prepared to provide Russia with technical assistance if Moscow requests it. Tedros also emphasized the importance of international cooperation on health during a speech in Tanzania to parliamentarians from around the world.
“Viruses do not respect borders,” he said, underscoring the need for countries to share information quickly when potentially serious infectious disease events emerge.
