Official says WHO doesn’t know exactly how lab worker in Russia died in plague case
The Hindu – International
You are logged in
Loading…
You don’t have any Active Subscription.
Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one.
Your active subscription(s)
Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials,
Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription
Products you’ve access to
Additional Subscription Benefits
Account Settings
Need help with your subscription?
Weather News October 7, 2026 e-Paper
The View From India
Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.
First Day First Show
News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.
Today's Cache
Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.
Science For All
The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in!
Data Point
Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers
THEdge
At the cutting edge of education and careers
Health Matters
Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there
Gender Agenda
Stories from beyond the binary.
The Hindu On Books
Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.
Weather News October 7, 2026 e-Paper
Updated – October 07, 2026 11:36 pm IST – Geneva
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (L) and WHO epidemic and pandemic management head Maria Van Kerkhove attend a press conference on global health issues in Geneva on October 7, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP
A top official with the World Health Organisation said Wednesday (October 7, 2026) the UN health agency doesn’t know how a lab worker in Siberia died amid concerns about plague, and she urged Russia to provide more information.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said the agency doesn’t know what the “causative agent” was behind the woman’s October 2 death, and “this is why we need more information”.
In its tersely worded statements, Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, does not link the case to pneumonic plague, saying only that “extensive” testing found no evidence the lab worker’s illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.
Russia has said she died of pneumonia — a “typical” acute respiratory viral infection — and its health authorities have found no cases of plague recently, WHO has said, acknowledging that pneumonia is commonplace.
Trump says he has call scheduled with Putin to discuss possible case of pneumonic plague in Russia
Russia reports worker at Siberian plague institute got pneumonia from an unknown cause and died
Moscow denies sanitary measures over plague reports
“We don’t understand how she was infected,” Van Kerkhove said.
The comments suggested the UN health agency has more questions than answers about the situation at the lab, which focuses on plague and was founded about a century ago to study the disease in a region where it is endemic.
Since the suspicious death of the lab worker, Russian authorities have kept a tight lid on information about it. The incident has been surrounded by secrecy and claims that it could have been caused by pneumonic plague.
While the case has raised global concerns, Russian state TV and other national state-controlled media have steered clear of the subject. Some state-sponsored news outlets withdrew earlier reports about the case.
Published – October 07, 2026 11:35 pm IST
World Health Organization
/
Russia
/
epidemic and plague
Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.
BACK TO TOP
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
Fonte: The Hindu – International
