A suspected lab accident involving a dangerous pathogen has left a 28-year-old female lab worker dead in Siberia.
Russian officials are offering conflicted reports of what exactly happened at the Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov, near the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
Darya Shipilova, as identified by independent Russian media, died after developing severe pneumonia of an unknown cause following a suspected lab incident as CNN reported citing Russian state media and public health authorities.
The Moscow Times reported that she told medical personnel she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples. She was later hospitalized with severe pneumonia, placed on a ventilator and died on October 2.
The exact pathogen remains disputed.
Reports have specifically raised concerns about pneumonic plague, a severe lung infection caused by Yersinia pestis. Unlike the more familiar bubonic form, pneumonic plague can spread between people through respiratory droplets. It is treatable with antibiotics, particularly when treatment begins early.
The hospital where Shipilova was treated was placed under quarantine. Nearly 200 people who may have had contact with her have reportedly been identified for medical observation or isolation, more than 100 of them in hospital wards.
Reports that five hospitals are now under quarantine, which circulated widely Saturday, have not yet been independently confirmed.
Workers at a nearby aluminum plant have been told to wear masks, while Russian officials are saying no one else has been exhibiting symptoms.
Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s former Covid response coordinator, told NBC News that “much more” information and transparency were needed from Moscow. He said that if this is an isolated case of pneumonic plague and no one else dies, “it will probably end there.”
According to Jha, “it’s actually very hard” for pneumonic plague to spread from person to person. Jha says that the chances of this becoming a global pandemic is exceedingly low while we may see a few more people infected.
The pneumonic plague is carried by airborne respiratory droplets, such as sneezing or coughing, and cases need rapid treatment with powerful antibiotics to prevent death.
“If there were weapons programs, biological weapons programs in these labs, that would be much more concerning to me,” Jha said. “We need to understand that now.”