Plague May Have Resurfaced in Russia. But This Isn’t the Black Death.
Several hospitals and an anti-plague institute were quarantined after a woman employee died, while officials said tests so far were negative.
- On October 2, 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, a lab worker at the Irkutsk Anti-plague Research Institute, died after falling ill. Authorities subsequently placed several regional hospitals under quarantine, restricting visitation as officials investigated a suspected "particularly dangerous infection."
- Following the death, Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, traveled to Irkutsk last Friday to coordinate an emergency response. Governor Igor Kobzev urged residents to remain calm while officials denied unconfirmed reports that a laboratory accident caused the fatality.
- Local media reported quarantine measures at hospitals No 1, No 3, and No 10, where patients remained isolated without visitor access. The Irkutsk aluminium smelter in Shelekhov introduced mask requirements as residents expressed anxiety despite authorities describing the epidemiological situation as stable.
- Radio Free Europe reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring the situation. International health officials urged Russian authorities to "share accurate information quickly and openly," noting plague remains treatable with commonly available antibiotics when treatment begins early.
- The Irkutsk facility functions as a BSL-3 laboratory, a fact highlighted by author Annie Jacobsen in her 2026 book Biological War. Jacobsen's scenario explores engineered pathogen risks, contributing to unease surrounding the unconfirmed reports.
33 Articles
33 Articles
On Monday, the Russian authorities minimized reports that a woman died of the plague in Siberia, claiming that the situation is "under control" while post-mortem tests did not reveal any evidence of the disease. ...
Plague may have resurfaced in Russia. But this isn’t the Black Death.
On October 1, 2026, the inpatient unit at the district hospital in Shelekhov, in Russia’s Irkutsk region, closed because of a suspected “especially dangerous infection.” Media outlets later reported that 28-year-old Darya Shipilova had died there of pneumonic plague. According to one account, she was a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute and accidentally broke a test tube containing the bacterium that causes the disease. T…
They investigate if there was an accident in a Russian laboratory that released the pathogen and killed a researcher.This bacterium can be transmitted by fleas to animals and among humans is transmissible.
Darya Shipilova: Who was Russian anti-plague lab worker who died? Moscow accused of covering up leak
Darya Shipilova, 28, worked at Siberia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute and died after developing pneumonia of unknown origin, triggering quarantines and fears of pneumonic plague.
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