Following the death of a 28-year-old lab technician in Russia last week reportedly after an accident at an anti-plague research laboratory, dozens have reportedly been quarantined.

Reports from Russia have suggested Darya Shipilova, an employee at the anti-plague institute in the city of Irkutsk, died on 2 October, two days after becoming unwell at work.

According to Russia’s health watchdog, Shipilova died from “pneumonia of unknown aetiology”. While the head of the neighbouring Buryatia region, Alexey Tsydenov initially said Shipilova had died of plague, before editing his social media post to say she had “possibly” died of the disease.

Russian authorities have denied this to the World Health Organization (WHO), stating: “No case of this dangerous disease has been recorded in the city of Irkutsk, ​Russian Federation.”

The disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, typically found in small mammals and the fleas that feed on them. It is the same organism that was behind the bubonic plague or “black death” that swept Europe in the 14th century.

However, the bubonic form is different from the pneumonic plague that some have suggested caused Shipilova’s death.

The former is more common, results in swellings called buboes and is spread by the bite of infected fleas, whereas the latter is lung-based. Pneumonic plague has a higher mortality rate and can be spread between people.

One report in the media is that Shipilova was admitted with the disease after returning from Thailand, while another is that she became infected after breaking a test tube in the laboratory. Russia’s health watchdog however, denied such accident occurred at all.

“There are a few hundred cases of plague reported each year globally usually in geographically restricted areas, particularly in Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – although there are a small number of cases in the western United States, central Asia, Mongolia, etc,” said Dr Malick Gibani at Imperial College London.

That might not seem reassuring, but we no longer have to rely on medieval medicine.

Dr Simon Clarke at the University of Reading said: “Unlike many viral respiratory diseases, plague is caused by bacteria, and antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides work well against this pathogen if administered early enough and are often given prophylactically, post-exposure.”

However, Clarke said there were still unknowns. “Until more details emerge, it is difficult to assess whether this represents an isolated case, an occupational exposure, or evidence of wider transmission,” he said.

The UN health agency’s spokesperson Christian Lindmeier has said the risk to others is low. “The WHO initial risk assessment from the information available estimates the risk to be moderate, to low for Irkutsk, a low risk for the Russian Federation as a whole, and very low for the WHO European region,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged Russia to release more information about the death of a lab worker at a plague research centre in Siberia.