The World Health Organization has asked Moscow for details after reports that a second employee of an Irkutsk anti-plague institute developed pneumonia of unclear origin. The Kremlin called most coverage of the situation false, while Russia’s public health watchdog said no new infections had been found among institute staff.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency received reports about a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause from two media outlets, one of them Russian. WHO has asked Russia to respond and is awaiting clarification. Tedros said the agency cannot ignore reports that come to its attention.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the “vast majority” of media reporting about the situation was false information and directed questions to Rospotrebnadzor. The watchdog said it had found no infections among staff after an institute employee in Irkutsk died with pneumonia of unknown origin.
The first employee, a 28-year-old researcher at the Irkutsk institute, died after being diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown aetiology. Russian authorities said tests found no pathogens related to her work. WHO has said it does not yet know what caused her illness and has requested test results and information about contacts.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the risk to the United States extremely low. CDC Director Erica Schwartz said the agency was coordinating with other departments and monitoring travellers from the region. The CDC said it had no indication of a broader threat to the country.