Plague in Russia

Natural foci

• Gorno-Altai high-mountain focus (Sailugem)

  Active

  Hosts: Grey marmots, long-tailed ground squirrels

  Code 36, 11,597 km2 in Russia; part of the transboundary Sailugem focus (about 29,000 km2, two thirds in Mongolia). Epizootics and 4 strains in 2025; high activity reported in 2026. Source of Russia's last human cases: 2014, 2015 and 2016, all after butchering marmots.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation
  • Mikrob: epizootic activity of Russian plague foci in 2025
  • Parlamentskaya Gazeta, 4 Sep 2026

• Tuva mountain focus

  Active

  Hosts: Long-tailed ground squirrels, fleas

  Code 37, 7,489 km2, Mongun-Taiga area on the Mongolian border. 8 Y. pestis strains isolated from fleas in 2025; epizootics forecast for 2026.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation
  • Mikrob: epizootic activity of Russian plague foci in 2025

• Transbaikal steppe focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Daurian ground squirrels, tarbagan marmots

  Code 38, 18,150 km2 in Zabaikalsky Krai. Low epizootic potential forecast for 2026.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

• Central Caucasus high-mountain focus

  Moderate

  Hosts: Mountain sousliks

  Code 01, 4,309 km2 near Elbrus (Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia). One strain isolated in July 2025.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation
  • Mikrob: epizootic activity of Russian plague foci in 2025

• East Caucasus high-mountain focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Voles, sousliks

  Code 39, 23,420 km2 in mountainous Dagestan.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

• Terek-Sunzha low-mountain focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Sousliks, voles

  Code 02, 2,336 km2 (Chechnya, Ingushetia, North Ossetia).

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

• Dagestan plain-piedmont focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Gerbils, sousliks

  Code 03, 11,150 km2.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

• Pre-Caspian north-western steppe focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Little sousliks

  Code 14, 51,152 km2 (Kalmykia, Stavropol, Rostov). The last Russian human case before 2014 was in Kalmykia in 1979.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation
  • Problemy Osobo Opasnykh Infektsii 2016;(2):83-86

• Pre-Caspian sandy focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Gerbils

  Code 43, 63,276 km2, the largest Russian focus (Kalmykia, Astrakhan, Dagestan).

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

• Volga-Ural steppe focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Little sousliks

  Code 15, 20,873 km2 along the Kazakh border.

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

• Volga-Ural sandy focus

  Low activity

  Hosts: Gerbils

  Code 16, 8,625 km2 (Ryn-Peski, Astrakhan).

  • MU 3.1.3.3395-16: Passports of natural plague foci of the Russian Federation

Recent events

1. 4 Oct 2026

   Rospotrebnadzor: Irkutsk death caused by "pneumonia of undetermined etiology"; no plague among contacts.

   • Interfax
2. 4 Sep 2026

   Rospotrebnadzor reports high epizootic activity in the transboundary Sailugem focus.

   • Parlamentskaya Gazeta
3. 12 Jul 2016

   A 10-year-old boy in Kosh-Agach district, Altai Republic, falls ill with bubonic plague after helping skin a marmot; he recovers. 7,906 residents vaccinated in six days.

   • Rospotrebnadzor Altai Republic

Latest signals

Headlines attributed to Russia in the last 45 days. Not verified by us.

• MU 3.1.3.3395-16 (foci passports)
• Rospotrebnadzor Altai Republic, 2022