In the Irkutsk region, rumors of plague emerged after a patient's death, and the hospital was quarantined

In the Irkutsk Oblast, talk of plague emerged after a patient's death, and the hospital was quarantined

A 27-year-old female patient has died in a hospital in Shelekhov, Irkutsk Oblast. Following her death, the inpatient facility was quarantined, and people who had been in contact with the woman were isolated and placed under medical observation. The cause of death is currently being linked to an infection, the nature of which is being investigated by specialists. Against this backdrop, reports of a possible plague infection appeared on social media.

The patient was hospitalized on September 29. Initially, doctors suspected a severe case of COVID-19, but later, information emerged about a possible plague infection. Against this backdrop, Telegram channels, specifically SHOT, Baza, and Mash, wrote that the deceased allegedly worked at an anti-plague institute and could have contracted the infection during a business trip to Buryatia or in a laboratory by breaking a test tube.

The Irkutsk Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology refuted this information: the press service stated that the woman had never worked for them, and the institute itself does not conduct research on the plague pathogen. There have been no statements from other specialized institutions or Rospotrebnadzor regarding the deceased's place of work yet.

The Governor of the Irkutsk Oblast, Igor Kobzev, announced that an emergency meeting of the sanitary and anti-epidemic commission was held, with the participation of the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova.

In total, specialists identified 197 people who had been in contact with the deceased patient. Of these, 189 were hospitalized for preventive observation, while another eight remain outside of inpatient facilities. At the same time, authorities report that the identified contact persons show no signs of illness, and their laboratory test results are negative.

The Shelekhov hospital has temporarily suspended the admission and discharge of patients in several departments, as well as the operation of its laboratory.

The last case of human plague in Russia was registered in 2016 in Altai. If the current suspicion is confirmed, it will be the first such case in the Irkutsk Oblast in ten years.

At the same time, natural foci of the infection persist in various regions of Russia. In 2025, infected animals were detected in the Central Caucasian, Gorno-Altaysky, and Tuvinsky foci, but no cases of human illness were registered.

In September 2025, a person died of bubonic plague in the Khövsgöl Aimag, which borders Russia. In late August 2026, Russian and Mongolian specialists laboratory-confirmed the presence of the plague pathogen in the Tsagaan-Uul sum of the Khövsgöl Aimag. In September, Rospotrebnadzor reported high activity of the natural focus on the border between the two countries.