WHO Says Cause of Russian Researcher’s Death Remains Unknown

The World Health Organization says it cannot yet assess the public health risk surrounding the death of a Russian infectious disease researcher earlier this month because Russia has not reported a confirmed cause of death.

In its disease outbreak report, published last weekend, the WHO cited “significant uncertainty” about the incident and said it remains impossible to determine whether the public health measures taken by Russia were sufficient to prevent the spread of an unknown disease.

So far, the WHO said there is no evidence of continued transmission. However, the agency cautioned that confidence in this assessment is limited because there is no confirmed etiological diagnosis and uncertainty remains about the source and mode of exposure.

WHO requested information from Russia

The WHO described how information about the incident emerged gradually from Russian authorities. The agency said it first learned of the researcher’s death through media reports on October 2. It then contacted Russian authorities and requested additional information on October 3, 6, 7, and 8.

Early reports linked illness to a laboratory incident

Initial media reports suggested that a staff member at the Siberian and Far Eastern Irkutsk Anti-Epidemic Research Institute, or APRI, may have become ill on September 29 after an incident at the laboratory.

Some early reports identified the researcher as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova and claimed she died of plague after breaking a test tube. The WHO report, however, noted that these accounts were not confirmed by a diagnosis of plague.

Russian authorities reported negative pathogen tests

On October 2, the Irkutsk branch of Russia’s Health Service, Rospotrebnadzor (RPN), said a “Special Sanitary and Epidemiological Committee” had met to address suspected cases involving high-threat pathogens.

RPN said hygiene and infectious disease control measures had been implemented, including identifying, monitoring, and testing contacts. At that time, the agency reported that all contacts had tested negative for high-threat pathogens.

On October 6, Russia’s National Focal Point for the International Health Regulations responded to a WHO request for information for the first time. It said that no cases of plague had been recorded in Irkutsk oblast.

The National Focal Point confirmed that an APRI staff member had died from severe pneumonia after developing symptoms consistent with an acute respiratory viral infection. The worker was tested for numerous high-threat pathogens, and all results were negative. Doctors classified the cause of death as pneumonia of unknown cause.

WHO says uncertainty remains

Although no continued transmission has been identified, the WHO said the lack of a confirmed diagnosis and unanswered questions about the exposure make it difficult to assess the incident’s risk to public health.