Russia says no epidemic risk as WHO pushes for transparency on plague lab death

By Anna Chernova, Zahra Ullah, Billy Stockwell, Brenda Goodman, CNN

(CNN) — Russia’s health watchdog said Wednesday there is no risk of an epidemic following the death of a laboratory worker at an anti-plague research institute in Siberia, even as the World Health Organization (WHO) made a plea for more information about the concerning episode.

In a statement Wednesday, Rospotrebnadzor said it is winding down a set of preventative measures in Russia’s Irkutsk region where the laboratory is located. Medical monitoring has been completed for “over 90%” of contacts of the deceased worker, and no dangerous pathogens have been found, it added.

The death of the lab technician, who worked at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia in Russia’s southeast, has sparked international concern and speculation in recent days about the cause of her illness.

Russian authorities sought to alleviate those worries on Wednesday, with the country’s watchdog saying, “As of October 7, 2026, medical monitoring has been completed for over 90% of contacts. No health issues related to infectious disease were detected, and the results of nearly 5,000 laboratory tests revealed no dangerous pathogenic microorganisms.”

Local authorities have previously introduced disease-control measures at local hospitals in Irkutsk, a move that fueled questions among some local residents about whether authorities were being transparent.

Global health experts urge greater transparency

But despite the positive statement from Russian authorities, global health experts are still urging caution, and asking for more transparency from Moscow.

WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that a “full risk assessment” has not been possible following the death of the Russian worker, adding that “timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the international regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.”

WHO’s experts also updated their early evaluation that the lab worker’s death posed “low” risk to public health, saying that because she may not have died of pneumonic plague — a bacterial infection that can be transmitted from person to person, but doesn’t spread easily — the risk from the event was now undetermined.

Meanwhile, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the WHO’s department of epidemic and pandemic management, said the organization had reached out to colleagues in Russia’s Ministry of Health and expected “further answers.”

“So we do reach out to them to ask very detailed questions about what tests were done, the results of those laboratory tests,” she said. “What further analysis is being done if the cause is not yet known, what contacts were put under quarantine or under follow up.”

“What we have been told is that they had no case of plague registered in this area, and that no high-threat pathogens were detected,” Van Kerkhove said. “So clearly, we would like more information to understand which laboratory tests were conducted, which pathogens were evaluated, and if this individual didn’t die from plague, then how did she die?”

The Kremlin has dismissed the concerns and said that it has kept the WHO informed “in accordance with established practice.”

Under its International Health Regulations, designed to prevent the cross-border spread of disease, WHO member states are obliged to notify it of “events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern.”

US presses for more info

The Trump administration is also struggling to get clear answers about the incident from Moscow, though Trump said Wednesday that the US does not believe that Shipilova died from exposure to a bioweapon, adding that the Kremlin has since insisted the situation at an anti-plague institute is “under control.”

“We don’t think so,” Trump said. “We’re going to find out soon enough, but we don’t think so.”

The US has escalated its request for information, issuing a formal diplomatic communication, called a démarche, a source familiar told CNN late Tuesday.

“We have officially requested additional information from the Russian government,” a State Department spokesperson said. “We are also in official communication with other countries around the world to share information.”

“It’s incumbent upon Russia to obviously share more information with the world,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday. “Maybe it’s bigger than we thought. We don’t know, but I think it would be reckless at this moment, given the limited information we still have, to speculate.”

Nonetheless, Trump said Russia is “very sophisticated, very smart, and they’re saying it’s very much under control,” even as he allowed that Russian officials had not disclosed much so far.

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CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Tim Lister and Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.