united24media.com
Russia Hides Potential Pneumonic Plague Outbreak After Fatal Lab Breach
A health scare in Siberia is raising questions over what Russian authorities are trying to hide, as public warnings vanish, officials avoid naming the infection, and emergency measures quietly expand. A suspected case of pneumonic plague has triggered emergency measures in Russia’s Irkutsk region after a 28-year-old employee of an anti-plague research institute died and nearly 200 people were placed under medical observation, while Russian officials have avoided publicly identifying the disease. According to The Sun on October 3, Daria Shipilova, 28, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, reportedly died from plague, prompting the isolation of 189 people and an emergency response involving Russia’s top infectious disease official. Shipilova was hospitalized in the town of Shelekhov with severe pneumonia-like symptoms before her death. The Shelekhov district hospital was subsequently placed under quarantine as health authorities began tracing people who may have come into contact with her. Russian outlet Lyudi Baikala reported that Shipilova worked as a laboratory technician and may have been exposed on September 25 after breaking a test tube containing the pneumonic plague pathogen. The circumstances of the reported incident have not been officially confirmed. Despite the scale of the response, authorities in the Irkutsk region...