Darya Shipilova is said to have been exposed to the pathogen while working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia
Hundreds of people have been placed into quarantine in Siberia after a laboratory worker died of suspected plague, according to reports.
Darya Shipilova, an employee at the Anti-Plague Research Institute in Shelekhov, was exposed to the bacteria after she accidentally broke a test tube containing the pathogen while she was collecting samples, the Kyiv Independent reported.
She was hospitalised on 29 September with severe pneumonia of "unknown origin” and placed on a ventilator, but died shortly after.
Independent Russian outlet Lyudi Baikal reported that several hospitals in the city of Irkutsk had closed for a three-week quarantine.
I mean unless they are somehow trying to develop an antibiotic and vaccine resistant strain of the plague? If it were the case then it is almost 100% a bioweapon research at best under the guise of bioweapon security. And I don’t know if this person is a bioweapon researcher or a public health researcher.
That would be unwise as you’d ideally want to have an antibiotic available for your own troops in a war. We also pretty much know about all of Russia’s bioweapon work after the cold war ended, there’s even an Anthrax island site they abandoned.
Fortunately bio weapon research is even more niche today than it was at the height of cold war tensions and all nations have cut back and destroyed big chunks of their stockpiles.
Also keep in mind that things like leprosy still occur in the USA (Florida is even seeing a small increase in cases) so it’s not necessarily that uncommon or a cause for concern. Things like the plague, leprosy and even strep throat (known as scarlet fever back when it regularly killed kids and routinely caused deafness in survivors) and easier to cure/treat thanks to modern medicine. The hygienic practices we have these days also help keep these things from breaking out like they used to.