Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old female lab technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, Russia, died on October 2, still a mystery. The institute is located in the city of Shelekhov in the Irkutsk region of Russia, where research on serious diseases and plagues is carried out.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday (October 10) that it still does not know what caused the death of a young worker at a Russian lab. The organization has expressed the need to continue investigating the case and gather additional information regarding the illness of the deceased employee.
A sign of pneumonic plague
The UN health agency cited early and unconfirmed reports suggesting pneumonic plague. Reports raised the possibility of pneumonic plague. This is a severe form of plague, different from the more common bubonic plague. The Black Death epidemics that spread in the medieval period were also related to the plague. Pneumonic plague affects the lungs and can cause severe pneumonia. It spreads from one infected person to another. However, if the disease is identified on time and proper treatment is given, the patient’s chances of recovery increase significantly.
A further investigation has been requested in this matter
After the case came to light earlier this month, WHO called for further investigation into the matter in its first full ‘Disease Outbreak News’. The agency said Russian health officials had conducted more than 5,500 tests and found no evidence of any dangerous pathogenic microorganisms.
The WHO stated that ‘more clinical, epidemiological and laboratory data are needed to increase confidence in the assessment, including confirmation of illness in a deceased lab worker’.
Another case is also mentioned
The WHO also mentioned a second alleged case, which it had previously linked to two tabloid news outlets in Britain and Serbia, in a clarification emailed to The Associated Press. These outlets cited several Russian reports that have not been confirmed. Russia has denied any such allegations.
What Russian officials said
According to Russia’s health and hygiene regulator Rospotrebnadzor, the female lab technician died of ‘pneumonia of unknown etiology’. Officials say there was no evidence of any kind of accident or leakage of dangerous bacteria at the lab.
Claim it on social media
Social media and local media reports claimed that a test tube containing plague bacteria broke while working in a lab, leading to an infection and death from pneumonic plague. The head of the neighboring Buryatia region also initially said the deaths were caused by the plague, which was later changed.
About 200 people have been quarantined
About 200 people have been kept under medical observation (quarantine) as a precautionary measure after this incident. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other international agencies, including the US, are demanding a full report and clarification on the matter.
