俄罗斯当局坚称，上周在西伯利亚去世的一名实验室研究员并未感染鼠疫。尽管如此，当局仍对近200名与该研究员有过接触的人员实施隔离，将60多名同事困在研究所内，还无解释地限制民众进入多家医院。28岁的达莉娅·希皮洛娃是伊尔库茨克抗鼠疫研究所的研究员，今年9月下旬她被送入舍列霍夫区医院，并于上周五晚间去世。
Russian authorities have insisted a lab researcher who died in Siberia last week did not have the plague while quarantining nearly 200 of her contacts, confining more than 60 colleagues inside their institute and restricting access to multiple hospitals, all without explanation. Darya Shipilova, 28, a researcher at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, was admitted to Shelekhov District Hospital in late September and died last Friday night.
俄罗斯国家卫生监督机构“消费者权益保护局”称，从希皮洛娃遗体中提取的生物样本中并未发现与其工作相关的致病微生物，她的死因是“病因不明的肺炎”。该机构还表示，其派出的专项调查组并未在研究所内发现任何涉及致病微生物的事故。克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫则要求媒体仅以“消费者权益保护局”的声明为准。
Russia's national health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said biological samples from her body found no microorganisms linked to her professional work and that she died from "pneumonia of unknown aetiology." The agency said its special commissions had found no accidents involving pathogenic microorganisms at the institute. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters to rely solely on Rospotrebnadzor's statements.
据多家独立媒体及地方媒体报道，接受观察或隔离的希皮洛娃的接触者人数在189至197人之间。初步检测结果显示这些接触者均未感染。此外，这家抗鼠疫研究所的60多名工作人员也连续数日被限制离开研究所。多家地方及国际媒体还报道称，伊尔库茨克的多家医院也实施了隔离措施，其中包括一家产科病房。有医院的患者称，医生们将鼠疫列为实施隔离的原因。
Between 189 and 197 of Shipilova's contacts were placed under observation and quarantine, according to figures cited by independent and regional media. Initial tests among those contacts returned negative. More than 60 staff members of the anti-plague institute were effectively confined inside the facility for several days. Quarantine restrictions were also imposed on hospitals in Irkutsk, including a maternity ward, according to reporting by multiple regional and international outlets. Patients at one facility said doctors cited plague as the reason.
一名正在分娩的产妇的家属虽已支付了伴侣陪产的费用，却仍被拒绝进入产房。布里亚特共和国领导人阿列克谢·茨德诺夫在希皮洛娃去世后最初称其死于鼠疫，随后又改口为“可能是鼠疫”。伊尔库茨克州当局周五发布消息，要求居民因鼠疫风险切勿前往谢列霍夫镇，但随后又删除了该消息。周一，州长伊戈尔·科布泽夫将死因描述为“病因不明的肺炎”。
Relatives of a woman in labour were refused entry to the ward despite having paid for partner-assisted birth. The head of neighbouring Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, initially said after Shipilova's death that she had died of plague, then amended this to "possibly plague".Irkutsk regional authorities posted a message on Friday asking residents not to travel to the satellite town of Shelekhov because of plague, then deleted it. Governor Igor Kobzev described the cause of death as "pneumonia of unknown aetiology" on Monday.
国际机构有何表态？世界卫生组织表示，经评估，此次事件对伊尔库茨克地区的公共卫生风险为低至中等水平；对整个俄罗斯而言风险较低；对世卫组织欧洲区域而言风险极低。该组织称，俄罗斯当局已查明希皮洛娃的接触者并正在对其进行监测，目前尚未在这些接触者中发现任何危险的传染病病原体。欧洲疾病预防与控制中心向欧洲新闻台表示，该中心“正密切跟踪事态发展”，并与世卫组织保持联系。
What are international authorities saying? The World Health Organization said it assessed the public health risk from the incident as low to moderate for Irkutsk region, low for Russia as a whole and very low for the WHO European region. It said Russian authorities had identified Shipilova's contacts and were monitoring them, and that they had detected no dangerous infectious disease agents among those contacts. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control told Euronews it was "closely following the situation" and was in contact with the WHO."
“我们已知晓俄罗斯东部出现一例疑似鼠疫的病因不明肺炎病例，不过这一怀疑尚未得到证实，”该中心一位代表说道。美国当局也在密切关注事态进展；哈萨克斯坦与吉尔吉斯斯坦则加强了与俄罗斯接壤边境的卫生管控措施。乌兹别克斯坦在获悉俄罗斯伊尔库茨克州出现疑似高危传染病病例的消息后，也加强了公共卫生应急准备，同时强调该诊断结果尚未得到证实。网络上的各种猜测目前，俄罗斯媒体上流传着两种非官方的说法。
We are aware of a case of pneumonia of unknown origin in eastern Russia that is suspected to be plague. This suspicion has not yet been confirmed," an ECDC representative said.US authorities are also monitoring developments, while Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have strengthened sanitary controls at their borders with Russia. Uzbekistan has also strengthened its public-health preparedness after reports of a suspected case of a particularly dangerous infectious disease in Russia’s Irkutsk region, while stressing that the diagnosis has not yet been confirmed. Online theories swirlTwo unofficial theories have circulated in Russian media.
第一种说法，由电子电报频道SHOT和Baza报道，认为Shipilova意外打破了一个含有鼠疫病原体的试管，发生在实验室。一些专家认为这种情况不太可能，因为他们指出，高风险病原体的研究是在密封的安全柜中进行的，穿着防护服并遵循严格的消毒协议。第二种理论是感染是在一片存在自然鼠疫储藏地的区域进行野外研究时获得的。
The first, reported by Telegram channels SHOT and Baza, holds that Shipilova accidentally broke a test tube containing the plague pathogen in the laboratory. Several specialists consider this unlikely, noting that work with high-risk pathogens is conducted inside sealed safety cabinets with protective suits and strict decontamination protocols. The second theory is that the infection was acquired during field research in a region with natural plague reservoirs.
布里亚特州州长公开否认Shipilova曾到访该区域。官方诊断尚未通过已发布的PCR检测结果加以证实或排除。鼠疫是由丝氏杆菌(Yersinia pestis)引起的。其最常见的形式——霍乱性鼠疫，影响淋巴系统。可以通过空气飞沫在人与人之间传播的肺性鼠疫被认为是最为危险的。俄罗斯最近一次确诊的人类鼠疫病例发生在2014年、2015年和2016年的阿尔泰地区，均涉及人们处理上羊羔体时的相关人员。尽管在几个地区存在自然储藏地，但俄罗斯的人类鼠疫病例仍然罕见。
The head of Buryatia publicly denied that Shipilova had visited the region. The official diagnosis has not been confirmed or ruled out by published PCR test results. Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Its most common form, bubonic plague, affects the lymphatic system. Pneumonic plague, which can spread between people via airborne droplets, is considered the most dangerous. Russia's most recent confirmed human cases were recorded in the Altai region in 2014, 2015 and 2016, all involving people who handled marmots. Human plague cases in Russia remain rare despite natural reservoirs existing in several regions.