Reports citing Russian regional media picked up by UK outlets including the Daily Mail

A satellite image of the Siberian Far East Anti-Plague Research Institute in Irkutsk, Russia, where a researcher in her 20s died of pneumonia of undetermined cause. [Reuters]
A satellite image of the Siberian Far East Anti-Plague Research Institute in Irkutsk, Russia, where a researcher in her 20s died of pneumonia of undetermined cause. [Reuters]

A second person is suspected to have died from the same disease that killed a researcher at a plague research laboratory in Siberia, Russia, following a suspected pathogen leak, several Western outlets including Britain's The Mirror and the Daily Mail reported Tuesday (local time), citing Russian regional media.

According to the Daily Mail and other outlets, Russian regional media reported that a second fatality had occurred involving a person believed to have contracted the same illness as Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old researcher who died earlier at a hospital in the Irkutsk region.

However, Russian health authorities said no confirmed plague cases had been identified among those who had contact with Shipilova. They also said about 60 percent of the roughly 200 people placed in quarantine after contact with her had since been released.

Despite those assurances, several hospitals in Irkutsk have been temporarily closed, and workers at one aluminum smelter were reportedly ordered to wear masks.

The incident began on Sept. 25, when Shipilova, who worked at an anti-plague research institute in Irkutsk, broke a test tube containing plague pathogens. She was hospitalized on Sept. 29 with severe pneumonia symptoms and died overnight between Thursday and Friday.

A colleague of Shipilova relayed claims from her family that medical staff had treated her symptoms as COVID-19 until just before her death, placed her on a ventilator, and administered antibiotics too late.

The family was also reportedly barred from visiting her in the ward during that time.

A Russian blogger told the Daily Mail that pregnant women at a municipal hospital in Irkutsk, including herself, were required to fill out a plague-related checklist during obstetric examinations. The blogger said hospital staff told them there was unconfirmed information about a virus that could be far more dangerous than the coronavirus, and that it remained unclear exactly what the virus was, how to respond to it, or how long quarantine measures would remain in place.

Unlike other forms of plague, which spread through flea bites or contact with infected animals, pneumonic plague can be transmitted through respiratory droplets. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics, but it carries a high fatality rate — capable of killing within one to six days if left untreated.


jshan@heraldcorp.com