Skip to content

Plague outbreak intelligence

Plague tracker.Facts, not rumours.

The suspected Irkutsk case, active natural foci and every plague signal worldwide, checked every 15 minutes.

Irkutsk briefingOpen the map
Dot map of Eurasia and Africa with the Irkutsk event and active natural plague foci highlightedTransbaikal steppe focusCentral Caucasus high-mountain focusEast Caucasus high-mountain focusTerek-Sunzha low-mountain focusDagestan plain-piedmont focusPre-Caspian north-western steppe focusPre-Caspian sandy focusVolga-Ural steppe focusVolga-Ural sandy focusEastern Mongolian steppeInner MongoliaQinghai-Tibet plateauKazakhstan desert fociTien Shan high-mountain focusWest Nile, UgandaWestern and Rift Valley KenyaLushoto, TanzaniaNorthern PeruApolo, BoliviaUS Far WestNortheast BrazilGorno-Altai high-mountain focus (Sailugem)Tuva mountain focusWestern Mongolia (marmot)Khövsgöl (Tsagaan-Uul)Madagascar central highlandsIturi, DR CongoUS Southwest (Four Corners)Irkutsk, Russia
Irkutsk, Russia1death197contacts observedCause officially unconfirmed

Irkutsk, as of

OfficialRospotrebnadzor, 4 Oct

“Pneumonia of undetermined etiology. No work-related microorganisms found. No accidents with pathogens. Situation stable.”

ReportedLyudi Baikala, Telegram channels

Pneumonic plague after she broke a test tube with the pathogen on 25 September and fell ill.

1
death
Officially: pneumonia of undetermined etiology
197
contacts identified
189 in hospital: 114 + 63 + 12
0
plague-positive contacts
2 COVID-19 and 2 rhinovirus cases found
1
quarantine confirmed
Shelekhov hospital. Irkutsk closures disputed
Full briefing
Contacts under observation

189in hospital

In hospital with daily lab tests. No plague found so far.

Secondary-case window

Pneumonic plague usually shows within 1 to 3 days of exposure, and contacts are watched for 7. Last known exposure was 2 October.

Window closes around

What happened, in order

Every entry is labelled official, reported, disputed or retracted, and links to its source.

Full timeline

  1. On-site check: Irkutsk hospitals not quarantined

    Reported

    IrCity reporters visited the hospitals. Hospital No. 3's deputy chief doctor said no quarantine had been introduced; No. 1 and No. 10 were operating normally, with masks worn for seasonal flu. Rospotrebnadzor repeated that the situation is stable.

  2. Kazakhstan: import risk "low"

    Official

    Kazakhstan's Health Ministry said the situation is under continuous monitoring, sanitary-quarantine control is in place at border crossings, no febrile travellers have been detected and the import risk is low.

  3. US State Department: "monitoring closely"

    Official

    A State Department official said the US is aware of reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague, is monitoring with the CDC, and encourages Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly. Axios reported the White House is assessing options.

  4. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan tighten border checks

    Official

    Uzbekistan tightened sanitary control at its borders. Kyrgyzstan put all sanitary-quarantine checkpoints into enhanced mode to check risks linked to people, vehicles and cargo.

  5. Claims of four Irkutsk hospitals closing

    Disputed

    Lyudi Baikala and Ostorozhno, Novosti reported three-week quarantines at City Clinical Hospitals No. 1, 3 and 10, the Ivano-Matreninskaya children's hospital and a maternity hospital. The children's hospital called it fake and said it operates normally.

Three forms, one bacterium

Yersinia pestis causes all three. Only one of them spreads between people, and all three respond to common antibiotics when treated early.

In the news

Pneumonic plague

Infection of the lungs. The only form that spreads from person to person, through respiratory droplets.

Incubation
As short as 24 hours (WHO); usually 1 to 3 days (CDC)
Person to person
Yes, by droplets at close range
Untreated
Always fatal; can kill within 18 to 24 hours

For pneumonic plague, antibiotics must start within 24 hours of the first symptoms to reduce the chance of death.

Read more

Bubonic plague

The most common form, usually from a flea bite. Bacteria multiply in the nearest lymph node, which swells into a painful bubo.

Incubation: 1 to 7 days (WHO); 2 to 8 days (CDC)

Untreated: 30 to 60 percent fatal

Septicemic plague

Bacteria multiply in the bloodstream, either as the first sign or after untreated bubonic plague.

Incubation: Days; often follows the bubonic form

Untreated: Always fatal without treatment (WHO)

Signals in 7 languages

Headlines from WHO, health agencies and the press, filtered for plague and deduplicated. We link out and never republish articles.

All signals

Plague never left

Between 2019 and 2025, ten countries reported human plague to WHO. DR Congo and Madagascar alone account for 98 percent of confirmed cases.

Plague never leftTransbaikal steppe focusCentral Caucasus high-mountain focusEast Caucasus high-mountain focusTerek-Sunzha low-mountain focusDagestan plain-piedmont focusPre-Caspian north-western steppe focusPre-Caspian sandy focusVolga-Ural steppe focusVolga-Ural sandy focusEastern Mongolian steppeInner MongoliaQinghai-Tibet plateauKazakhstan desert fociTien Shan high-mountain focusWest Nile, UgandaWestern and Rift Valley KenyaLushoto, TanzaniaNorthern PeruApolo, BoliviaUS Far WestNortheast BrazilRU: 221US: 3CN: 2EE: 1Gorno-Altai high-mountain focus (Sailugem)Tuva mountain focusWestern Mongolia (marmot)Khövsgöl (Tsagaan-Uul)Madagascar central highlandsIturi, DR CongoUS Southwest (Four Corners)
3,860
suspected cases
2,646
confirmed
423
deaths
10
countries reporting
Active natural focusLower-activity focusNews signals, last 30 days
WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 25 Sep 2026
Full map

Questions people are asking

Short answers, sourced to WHO and CDC guidance. More on the FAQ page.

Is the Irkutsk plague case confirmed?

No. As of 5 October 2026, Rospotrebnadzor says the laboratory technician died of "pneumonia of unknown etiology" and has not confirmed plague. Media, colleagues and an initial post by the head of Buryatia said plague; that post was later deleted. We track every statement on the Irkutsk briefing.

Is plague contagious from person to person?

Only the pneumonic form, which affects the lungs, spreads between people, through respiratory droplets during close contact. Bubonic plague, the most common form, comes from flea bites or handling infected animals and does not spread through the air. See pneumonic plague.

Can plague be cured?

Yes. Plague is treated with common antibiotics such as streptomycin, gentamicin, doxycycline or ciprofloxacin. Speed matters: for pneumonic plague, treatment must start within 24 hours of the first symptoms to reduce the chance of death. See treatment.

Is there a plague vaccine?

Not for the general public in Europe or the US. WHO recommends vaccination only for high-risk groups such as laboratory staff. Russia and China use live attenuated vaccines for at-risk workers, including anti-plague institute staff.

What are the first symptoms of plague?

Sudden fever, chills, headache and weakness, then either a painful swollen lymph node (bubonic), a rapidly worsening pneumonia with cough and sometimes bloody sputum (pneumonic), or shock and bleeding under the skin (septicemic). See symptoms.

Should I worry about plague outside Siberia?

For almost everyone, no. One death has been reported and no secondary case. Pneumonic plague usually shows within 1 to 3 days of exposure, and contacts are monitored for 7 days, so a chain of transmission would be visible quickly. We will say so plainly if that changes.

Built to be checked

Every number links to its source. Official statements and media reports are never merged. No ads, no cookies, no trackers, and the full dataset is open under CC BY 4.0.

Methodology Open data