Canada’s Health Agency Says It’s Monitoring the Situation After Russian Lab Worker Dies of Unknown Illness

A view of the entrance to the grounds of the anti-plague institute in the city of Irkutsk, Russian, on Oct. 6, 2026. AFP via Getty Images

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says it is monitoring the death of a Russian laboratory worker from an unknown illness and has identified no risks to Canada.

A PHAC spokesperson said in an Oct. 6 email to The Epoch Times that the agency was aware of the illness and death of a 28-year-old female employee at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East. The institute studies the plague and other pathogens.

The agency said it is in contact with international partners and following the situation through its Global Public Health Intelligence Network.

“At this time, no risk to Canada has been identified. PHAC takes reports of illness and death seriously and stands ready to take appropriate action to protect Canadians,” the spokesperson said.

Human cases of plague are “very rare in Canada,” with the last reported case in 1939, the spokesperson added. Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, is treatable with widely available antibiotics.

The Russian health and consumer agency, Rospotrebnadzor, told the World Health Organization (WHO) that no plague cases exists among the deceased worker’s contacts.

Earlier this week, Rospotrebnadzor said the region around Irkutsk, where the worker died, was secure.

Russian authorities said the woman contracted pneumonia from an unknown source, with no evidence that any pathogens she worked with at the institute caused it. Media outlets in Siberia suggested she died of pneumonic plague, a less common but severe form of plague that infects the lungs.

Plague comes in three main forms affecting different parts of the body, according to the WHO. Pneumonic plague causes patients to cough out infectious airborne droplets and is fatal within 24 hours if untreated. It can also develop when an untreated plague infection spreads to the lungs.

Bubonic plague, the most common form, is transmitted through infected fleas before the pathogen moves to the lymph nodes. Septicemic plague occurs when the bacteria enter and multiply in the bloodstream following a flea bite, officials say.

The WHO said pneumonic plague can be fatal if untreated, but antibiotics are effective against plague bacteria when treatment begins early.

Russian state TV reported that the woman died last week at a hospital in Shelekhov, just outside Irkutsk. Local authorities quarantined the hospital and monitored people who had been in contact with her.

Canadian Health Minister Marjorie Michel said on Oct. 5 that Canada faced no risk and the federal government is working with the WHO and other countries to monitor the situation.

Asked whether she had concerns about Russian officials’ transparency, Michel said the United States was in close contact with Russia, “and we are in close contact with the United States.”

“So, I feel that in this specific case, we will work together for the benefit of the world,” she said.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.