A deadly plague scare is unfolding in Russia right now, and the government is refusing to tell the public exactly what is happening.
Read that again. A 28-year-old lab worker named Daria Shipilova has died of a suspected pneumonic plague infection in Siberia. She worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, the very place built to stop outbreaks like this. Reports say she got sick after a test tube holding the plague pathogen broke. She was put on a ventilator. Within days, she was dead. Here’s why people are on edge. Pneumonic plague attacks the lungs, and it can spread from person to person through the air.
The World Health Organization says it is fatal unless it’s treated early. Now nearly 200 people who were around her are under medical watch. A hospital has been locked down. Every public event in the region has been canceled. And Russia’s top public-health official rushed 2,600 miles from Moscow to take control.
Officials say none of the contacts has shown symptoms so far. But the governor won’t even say the word “plague.” He’s calling it “a dangerous infectious disease.” Reports claim antibiotics have run out in the region, sending frightened residents rushing to pharmacies. One Russian political channel said the situation “resembles the Wuhan case.” And a senior Russian epidemiologist called the official explanation “laughable” and said, “We will not be told what really happened.” Think about that.
A deadly, airborne form of plague. Nearly 200 people being watched. A hospital in quarantine. And a government that won’t give straight answers. Right now, the whole world is waiting to see if anyone else gets sick.
