Hospital lockdown: Pneumonic plague fears after scientist died ‘dropping test tube of pathogens’

Daria Shipilova, 28, laboratory assistant is reported by Russian media as the country’s first fatal pneumonic plague case in years (Picture: Daria Shipilova/e2w) Vladimir Putin has been accused of covering up a deadly pneumonic ‘black death’ plague outbreak.

Five hospitals and a college have reportedly been placed in immediate lockdown with patients unable to leave to visit relatives after the death of a lab worker from pneumonia.

Relatives are only allowed to deliver personal belongings or food.

The lockdowns are covering the City Clinical Hospitals Numbers 1, 3 and 10 as well as the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children’s Clinical Hospital.

Pneumonic plague is the most virulent form of plague, spreading from person to person through airborne respiratory droplets rather than ticks and rats of the bubonic plague.

The outbreak is linked to the death of a laboratory assistant, Daria Shipilova, at Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute.

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Some reports claim the 28-year-old fell ill while on an expedition on the border between Russia and Mongolia, while others say she was infected at the Institute after ‘breaking a test tube containing a pathogen’.

Officially, the lab worker’s death has been classified as pneumonia of unknown origins, with no pathogens related to her work identified.

A healthcare source told People of Baikal that doctors are ‘already openly talking about plague’.

At the same time, according to the source, the diagnosis is not stated in the official documents sent to hospitals, and plague is not mentioned in them.

‘Selective quarantine is not used for pneumonic plague. Restrictions are introduced simultaneously for all medical institutions,’ our source in the healthcare sector noted.

Quarantine has also been introduced in one city maternity hospital.

The family of one woman in labour told independent outlet People of Baikal that doctors said the reason was plague. The woman’s husband was not allowed into the ward despite having documents permitting him to be at her bedside.

The city of Baykalsk posted an alert urging residents to avoid traveling to Shelekhov, only to delete the post less than two hours later. REN-TV also hastily deleted five plague posts from its Telegram channel.

At the Irkutsk Aluminium Plant (IrkAZ) in Shelekhov, a mask mandate was introduced after the death of a local resident from plague, according to the plant’s director, Artem Fominykh.

‘God protects those who protect themselves,’ Fominykh wrote, urging plant employees to seek medical assistance immediately if they develop symptoms.

Governor Igor Kobzev said on October 2 that there was a ‘particularly dangerous infection’ but that the ‘situation is under strict control.’

His Telegram channel is currently publishing posts about creative competitions, autumn weekend walks, and even promoting a fish festival. The governor has not mentioned plague.

Head of the Republic of Buryatia, Alexey Tsydenov said: ‘According to Rospotrebnadzor and the government of the Republic of Buryatia, the woman who possibly died of plague in the Irkutsk region had not travelled to Buryatia.

‘There are no plague outbreaks in the republic, including in the area bordering Mongolia. The source of the infection is circumstances unrelated to Buryatia. I ask media outlets to consider this information when reporting on this topic.’

Russian epidemiologist Mikhail Favorov, who now lives in America, criticised authorities for their response and for allowing ‘a lot of nonsense’ to circulate.

‘Someone working at the anti-plague institute in Irkutsk wears a protective anti-plague suit,’ he said. ‘If you break a test tube, the likelihood of infection is actually very low.

‘The story about the test tube? It’s laughable.

‘It’s not as if the plague just flies out of the test tube, after all.

‘That’s not how it works. In short, it doesn’t matter to the general public. They’ll believe the “dropped test tube” story.’

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