Technology and Science · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Russian Authorities Quarantine Hundreds After Irkutsk Technician Dies of Unknown-Origin Pneumonia
Daria Shipilova, 28-year-old Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute technician, died of unknown pneumonia. Nearly 200 people exposed are under medical observation or quarantine.
Whether Russian authorities are hiding information.
10 of 11 outlets skipped it: antibiotics allegedly ran out amid panic buying.
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Mother Jones
“Reports out of the Irkutsk region of Russia reveal a potential public health crisis developing in the area, after a lab accident released a ‘particularly dangerous infection’”Read the original ↗
NBC News
“The female staffer at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East died from a ‘pneumonia of undetermined’ origin last week”Read the original ↗
How definitively plague is treated changes perceived urgency and risk.
Death Triggers Quarantine
Russian authorities imposed “anti-epidemic measures” after a laboratory worker at a Russian plague laboratory died of a mysterious illness, and officials placed “hundreds of people and several hospitals in Siberia” under quarantine. Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old technician at the Irkutsk Antipests Institute, died after developing pneumonia whose cause was described as “unknown-origin pneumonia,” and local media said she was exposed to the bacteria causing pneumonic plague when a test tube ruptured. Rospotrebnadzor confirmed that the death was due to an “unknown-origin pneumonia,” while El Financiero said expanded analyses determined there are no microorganisms in her body related to her professional activity.
The hypothesis that sparked alarm points to an accident on September 25, when Shipilova allegedly broke a test tube containing dangerous biological material while working with pathogens. The Russian health surveillance agency stated that the worker was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” and that analyses did not detect microorganisms related to her professional activity.
Conflicting Accounts of Cause
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov referred to communications from Rospotrebnadzor and said, “We should not pay attention to rumors and conjecture.”
Some outlets specifically mentioned the bacterium Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, although it was not officially confirmed.
On September 25 Shipilova broke the tube containing Yersinia pestis, and her death was confirmed a week after the accident.
Igor Kobsev stated that no “microorganisms linked to the employee’s professional activities were detected” in her body and that there had been “no new cases” of illness among other employees of the lab.
Dr. Deborah Birx asked, “What was in that vial?” and tied the concern to the need to know what caused the illness and whether it was genetically modified.
Monitoring, Transparency, and Risk
The U.S. State Department said it was monitoring reports of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in Irkutsk Oblast, and it urged Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly.
Dr. Ashish Jha told NBC News that if this is an isolated case of pneumonic plague and no one else dies, “it will probably end there,” while he said the chances of a larger outbreak were “exceedingly low.”N
The World Health Organization was aware of reports of “severe pneumonia” but that “no cause of death has been officially confirmed,” and it described pneumonic plague as transmissible via respiratory droplets.
Maksim Modin, mayor of the Shelekhov Municipal District, said the hospital where the researcher received treatment was temporarily closed and placed under quarantine.
Rospotrebnadzor stated that “The sanitary-epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region and in the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable,” as authorities continued assessments and expanded analyses.