Cause of Death 'Unknown', But Russia Claims It's Not Plague: Global Alarm Raised as WHO Demands Pathogen Disclosure

The death of a 20-something female researcher from an unexplained pneumonia at a Russian plague prevention research institute has sparked suspicions that the deadly plague pathogen may have leaked out.

South Korea's quarantine authorities also conducted an emergency review, assessing the possibility of domestic inflow as extremely low.

Local time on September 25, Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old female researcher at a plague prevention research institute in Irkutsk, Russia, reportedly broke a test tube containing plague pathogens.

The researcher was hospitalized four days later with symptoms of severe pneumonia and ultimately died early this month.

Russian authorities announced the cause of death as "pneumonia of unknown cause."

Because the accident occurred at a facility researching the plague and the researcher died following the breakage of the test tube, suspicions surrounding the possibility of a plague pathogen leak have spread.

However, Russian health authorities stated that no plague bacteria were detected in the remains of the deceased researcher.

They explained that other dangerous pathogens handled at the institute were not identified either, and two inspections of the research facility revealed no emergency situations such as pathogen leaks.

No additional infection cases were confirmed through tests on contacts either.

However, questions persist as the exact cause of death has not been disclosed even after thousands of tests were conducted.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is also demanding that Russia identify the pathogen that caused the deceased researcher's pneumonia.

The plague is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

In particular, "pneumonic plague," which attacks the lungs, can be transmitted between humans through respiratory droplets from infected individuals.

If left untreated, it can quickly lead to death, but early detection and treatment with antibiotics can increase the chances of recovery.

Following this incident, South Korea's Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) conducted a rapid risk assessment on October 7 and held a situation review meeting on October 12.

As a result, they maintained the domestic comprehensive risk level at "low," evaluating the possibility of domestic occurrence as "very low" and the impact in the event of introduction as "low."

The KDCA decided to strengthen monitoring centered on entrants with a history of visiting or staying in Russia who exhibit fever or respiratory symptoms.

In addition, should a suspected patient occur domestically, the plan is to immediately transfer them to a state-designated inpatient treatment bed for isolation and treatment.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Lee Eui-seon | Graphics by Lee Sumin | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.