A Plague Outbreak In The Irkutsk Region Of The Russian Federation Is Gaining Momentum
- 2.10.2026, 15:17
Nearly 200 people have been hospitalized.
In the Irkutsk Region, 189 people with suspected plague infections have been identified and hospitalized, according to a source cited by "REN TV". According to the source, all of them had been in contact with a young woman who had died from the disease the day before. The individuals were admitted to two hospitals, and 12 people were sent to the Anti-Plague Institute for observation. Some of them are showing symptoms of the disease, but infection has not yet been confirmed. In addition, authorities are identifying individuals who have recently been in contact with those hospitalized, the TV channel’s source added.
According to Mash, the victim of pneumonic plague was a 27-year-old employee of the Plague Research Institute. According to one account, she had returned from a work trip to Buryatia, where an outbreak of plague had been reported near the border with Mongolia. According to another account, the woman accidentally broke a test tube containing the dangerous bacteria in the laboratory while collecting biological samples for diagnostic purposes. On September 29, she was admitted to the Shelekhov Hospital with symptoms of pneumonia and placed on a ventilator. However, she died two days later. All clinic staff were isolated, and the facility itself was placed under quarantine.
The governor of the Irkutsk Region Igor Kobzev held an emergency meeting of the Sanitary and Anti-Epidemic Commission together with the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova. According to him, they discussed reports that a resident of the region had been infected with a “particularly dangerous infection.” “All identified close contacts have been placed under medical observation. As of today, they show no signs of the disease, and their laboratory test results are negative,” Kobzev noted.
Plague is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The main forms of the disease are bubonic, pneumonic, and septic. Most often, people become infected through bites from fleas on rodents that carry the bacteria. The pneumonic form can be transmitted from person to person via the respiratory tract.
The last recorded case of plague in Russia was in 2016 in the Altai region—a 10-year-old boy fell ill after butchering a marmot and becoming infected through a cut in his skin. Thanks to timely treatment, the boy survived. Natural foci of the plague persist in Mongolia. In 2023, Mongolia’s National Center for the Study of Zoonotic Infections identified 137 such foci in 17 regions of the country, including areas near the border with Russia.