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.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/78544
“Accuse your enemies of that which you plan to do.”
One of my personal “Rules of Life” is that people are most suspicious of behavior they are most likely to perform. Thieves always think people are stealing from them, cheaters always think someone is cheating on them, etc. They have to believe that, so they can keep performing the behavior, but blame it on others - you do it (even if they don’t), so it’s okay if I do it.
Trump lives by this code, he’s always accusing people of stealing, cheating, etc., and then does it himself “in retaliation,” when what he’s really doing is just helping himself to whatever he wants.
That or they’re wary of things that have been done to them, but I don’t recall Russia ever being targeted by a bioweapon.
Plague is caused by a bacterium not a virus!
That’s a relief! It’s a good thing that antibiotic resistance isn’t a problem.
Yeah but how will people compare it to COVID when you report it like that?
virus
Others claimed it was bacteria. What a shit show
For all folks concerned of massive epidemic:
- The people who contacted her after the incident are isolated, the hospital quarantined
- Yes, there is a vaccine. People are not commonly vaccinated because plague is very rare nowadays, but they can be as needed.
- It can be cured by antibiotics. Care needs to be prompt though, and that’s what Daria very recklessly missed. Fatal mistake for someone who oopsied in a pathogen lab.
Also, to those concerned that this is a biological weapon lab:
- This would be the most stupid and inefficient biological weapon. Again, we have the vaccine AND the cure.
- Disease research institutes are a normal thing throughout the world. We need them to efficiently combat outbreaks should they ever reappear.
Strange for someone working with that specific pathogen to not be innoculated prophylactically.
Indeed. This is exactly the kind of high-risk environment for which people are typically vaccinated
looking at how people react in regards of vaccines, masks, and medical misinformation, I think even a common cold can be a successful bio-weapon
Yeah, people seem to think the plague is extinct? There are yearly cases of plague in nearby Mongolia for example. It’s also not usually as easy to spread compared to viruses like influensa. It’s still a scary thing to think about, but nothing for us to worry about really…
yersinia pestis is a zoonotic disease, it never went away. its only the plague flea+black rat that was the problem in medieval times, i think it was combination of stray dogs+cats that helped it. its still in wild rodent populations.
I am pinning my hopes on a random Lemmy commentor.
I hate this timeline.
This random commentor happens to be a Russian microbiologist, so you’re in pretty safe hands.
(No, I do not develop biological weapons, nor am I aware of any such facilities)
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. But I don’t know if this person is a bioweapon researcher or a public health researcher.
my fear is dumber than that, people just wont wanna take the vaccine and antibiotic and there will be this weird disease loving faction that does great damage to the greater society.
Yes it is much cheaper and easier to convince people to not use vaccines and other proven medical interventions than it would be to create a novel virus. Look at the idiotic life threatening things people are willing to do to follow a TicToc trend or Insta. Not to mention all the idiocy they will follow due to AI. Those are the ‘deadly viruses’ people should be fearing.
Lol another twist on bioterrorism
I mean unless they are somehow trying to develop an antibiotic and vaccine resistant strain of the plague?
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.
This would be the most stupid and inefficient biological weapon. Again, we have the vaccine AND the cure.
Erm, Actually. It’s obvious they’re still researching the Suppression and Sympto-Statis gene tech so they can sneak the plague into other countries without panic.
You casuals wouldn’t understand. 😏 /s
Maybe they’re making a potent cross-species variant by weaponising good ol’ Russian boreal swamp debauchery.
What a shit report, honestly. “It is said”, “according to reports”, “the Kyiv Independent reported”, and my favorites “after breaking a test tube”. Go notice, Lyudi Baikal “RadioFreeEurope”, “RsdioLiberty”. We are dicking doomed.
There are cases of Human plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, in the United States now.
Actually, there always have been since introduction, especially in the american southwest. It was never eradicated here.
It’s also extremely treatable in the 21st century
You’re not kidding. There’s a small small cave in California over by Mammoth that people said if you go into it you will get sick and die because it’s filled mice and plague.
Sure, but they got Ivermectin
And I’ve a Mac10 it’s a panacea of sorts too!
Hopefully it’s contained, because if we get another pandemic conservatives are going to do everything in their power to make it kill as many people as possible.
They’ll mostly be successful in killing their own voter base, which would ultimately turn out positively?
I think that it’d be pretty hard to describe a plague pandemic in any terms approaching “positively”.
IDK an irradication of boomers, antivaxers, and conservatives would be approaching a positive outcome.
Or it disproportionately kills the most economically oppressed like always, spreads paranoia and destroys community trust, leading to another right wing surge.
So just fuck the disabled and immunocompromised?
And babies!
The Epstein class is way ahead of you on that front
“Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make”
There is a way to rationalize all this but it’s obviously extremely cruel.
(A reminder that wishing your political enemies die by their own hand is… not great.)
I thought you folks loved democracy.
Isn’t the saying “hate the game, love the players”.
Idk about ‘love’, that’s rather in the Christian “love the sinner, hate the sin”. Outside of that, it’s just “don’t hate the player”.
But anyway, in this case I don’t so much hate them as support their right to choose their fate. However, the real victims here are immunocompromised people, those who can’t use vaccines, the elderly and children who are collateral damage by getting infected from the unvaccinated.
And then, since the ‘game’ was brought on by the conservative folks upon themselves and others via their choices, why shouldn’t I blame them?
It’s like eradication but also irradiation for some reason.
and Democrats! that would be great
The black death caused the renaissance¹, and the end of feudalism in Europe. I’d say that was pretty positive (eventually), despite the overall tragedy.
- By leaving enough job openings in the cities for the serfs to escape their lords’ fields to work for themselves, with much higher wages due to less supply and increased demand, and severely reducing the lords’ power in the process.
I’d like to know what the “live biological samples” were.
Earlier articles said it was Pneumonic Plague. Maybe the independent is taking a step back from that since there’s nothing definitive, but it doesn’t really matter right now (note that this position is different from saying it doesn’t matter at all, or saying to not keep your ear to the ground).
If it’s the plague then it’s treatable with antibiotics, but not the first line ones, and it has to be treated quickly. As we all should know by now if it’s a virus you can only treat the symptoms until there’s a vaccine.
the pneumonic plague is more lethal than the bubonic, the classic one in medieval times, eventhough its the same bacteria. you need to be treated within 1day, or it becomes septicemic.
Let’s hope it was something else, then.
What I’ve heard was Y. Pestis, Yersinia Pestis.
I mean… Aren’t the conservatives going to do that anyway?
The number of people possible will be higher
It’s way cheaper this way
Well, this time around, MAGA conservatives have proven that they can indeed wear masks so maybe… naw. They’ll come up with some reason not to again.
Maybe that’s the accelerationists goal. Retreat in their bunkers, use ai to run things outside while humans die en masse, and then “rebuild society from its ashes”.
I’m hoping there is one, simply because the same thing will happen again.
The Left will follow instructions and survive, the Right will die in numbers large enough to affect elections
Totally what happened. We now have a leftist president and congress. The right wing is all dead.
Yeah, and those of us who are on the left and immunocompromised are fucked. I understand where you’re coming from, but this is a bad take.
No matter if instructions are followed, there is always risk, especially to vulnerable people.
Wikipedia is already referencing articles saying it’s a pathogen related to the Black Death.
And for people worried about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that “today it can be easily treated with antibiotics and the use of standard preventative measures.”
Assuming of course, to be pessimistic, it hasn’t been weaponized. Siberian Anti-Plague Research facility doesn’t fill me with confidence, and you’d expect the hospital to have tried antibiotics, granted they may have been too late or used the wrong ones.
My ‘favourite’ fact about Soviet-era bioweapons is that they had a facility on an island in the Aral Sea. Said sea vanished from existence after the Kremlin redirected all the rivers which fed it in an effort to grow cotton in the desert, causing it to shrink to some 10% or less of its original volume. As well as destroying the livelihoods of the fishermen of Aralsk in Kazakhstan, it also made the island full of fucking anthrax among other things part of the mainland.
I’ll say this for the Soviets, they didn’t do environmental disasters by halves. Also as a Briton we had our own anthrax island in Scotland from the war that was only decontaminated in the '90s.
Someone else wrote it’s a strain that specializes in colonizing the lungs and has to be treated within 24 hours or septicimia. Also that front line antibiotics might not work on it but others will.
So if it’s easily treated, and I’m sure they knew this at the lab, why did the worker die?
Many possible explanations.
- Russia lying again to justify death of someome they wanted dead
- Russia lying again to try to scare the world into thinking they have some unknown bioweapon
- Russia lying again that this whole ordeal happened to make the world think they have scientists working on bioweapons
Let’s not discount the possibility of creaking Soviet-era equipment that should have been replaced decades ago but the money was non-existent/spent corruptly/not enough to touch the sides of the neglect/delete as appropriate.
We’re talking about the country which operates the poor Kuznetsov which has been begging for death for many years.
Nah, they made their own equipment. That’s worse.
Hopefully Ukraine will grant it mercy and eternal rest 🙏
- Russia doing stupid fucking shit. Again.
In a country where people suicide by 12 knife stabs in the back and where people randomly fall from an inoperable 5th floor window…
I would just say: because Russia?
People die of treatable diseases.
that kinda undercuts the whole “don’t worry, the black death can be cured now a days” argument
Usually not 28 year olds though
I’m not sure, so I’m gonna wear my beak mask just to be safe.
Why is this comment buried here? It’s literally the solution! Do people love the thrill of panicking? Internet, you so silly sometimes…
renowned current health guidance has a high likelihood of failing to apply to new genetically-modified variants
(if that is the case)
Chat how easy it is to brew an antibiotic resistant strain of plague considered we created some resistant diseases fully by accident?
No idea if true but people on reddit said it had to be treated within 24 hours of symptom onset.
A ton of people would easily try to wait it out and be too late to get meds.
think about what it would do to housing prices to have a large number of nice houses be suddenly available
such fun times to be without spleen
I’m guessing they made an extra feisty version. Otherwise, break out the antibiotics, no need for death or massive quarantine…
And for people worried about it, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that “today it can be easily treated with antibiotics and the use of standard preventative measures.”
Not if it is developed by Russians to be antibiotic resistant.
Why would they have a lab working on it if it was easily treatable by antibiotic? Why the worker died anyway and they introduced a quarantine?
scans for the .ml posters
Huh that’s craaaazy lol.
Ah yes here we go again.
How could Joe Biden and the Democrats let this happen! They’re only doing this yo make Trump look bad, and after the election it will conveniently disappear.
- stuff said by right-wingers about covid in mid-2020
Red vs Blue brain rot on full display here. You managed to turn some news about a lab leak in Russia … about US Politics?
That’s just what being American is like. Everything always has to be about them.
I’m American and I think that behavior is unhinged
As an American I need everyone to help me steer this conversation towards gun control or abortion.
In Russia, who won’t do a thing about it, and if they do, they’ll botch it in typical Russian fashion. They are easily the dumbest superpower.
Learn to hold your breath for the next few years.
They are easily the dumbest superpower.
I wouldn’t say ‘easily’. Competition is pretty tough in these days.
Ironically Asian powers are the only ones that seem to know what they’re doing these days.
America & European leaders have lost their damn minds
Authoritarianism works, as long as the authorities are competent. US & Europe are getting the worst of both worlds: authoritarianism without the competence.
got’a source on that at all?
Edit: they didn’t, thread below is them saying I’m stupid a bunch of times before writing a long message to admit they never second guessed themselves and never read on the topic. You guys gotta stop acting like you’re entitled to say shit about serious topics without taking yourself seriously and fucking learning about them.
A source…on my opinion?
Yeah, if you’re saying shit like, “authoritarianism works,” you can’t whine when people expect you to substantiate it.
You think nobody asks for sources as the phrenology conference? Dicknuts.
You’re the leader of a country. Is it easier for you to get what you want if the country is A) a democracy or B) a dictatorship.
Don’t answer right away. Take all the time you need.
Plague isn’t a virus. Sigh.
It is a bacteria, and since this one likely is modified in a bioweapons, it will be practically immediately fatal and incurable.
Do you have any evidence for either of those statements or are you just doing Russophobia?
There’s nothing Russophobic in that comment.
Of course there is. The assumptions that the Anti-Plague Research Institute is a bioweapon facility, or that big bad Russia can manufacture an immediately fatal and incurable strain of the plague are both fear-mongering statements that wouldn’t be made about any neutral country.
Please indicate the case specifying Russia in there? It’s certainly pessimistic (gain of function studies being a somewhat contentious subject), but not aggressive to a specific nation.
They might just be they played too much RE as a kid.
This facility is funded and/or controlled by the Russian government. Being critical of the Russian government is not Russophobia. That is like saying criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic.
Now if you had said this was a conspiracy theory I might be inclined to agree.
Jumping to conclusions about a bioweapon is not criticism of a state. There has to be some kind of basis in reality for it to be criticism and not just fearmongering.
Lab accidents are not uncommon, the entire point of this article is to instill Russophobia.
Russophobia is fear of Russians. If this happened in the U.S. and someone made this comment, would you make claims of “America-phobia?”
Not directly but it’s in the DNA of the message. They wouldn’t have made the same comment I’d wager if this was in a French lab or Czech lab.
I don’t know what they would have or would have not posted. Being critical of the Russian government is not Russophobia anyway.
Anyone who wants something extra to feel anxious about should read the hot zone by Richard Preston. It’s about Ebola, not plague, but it’s. . . alarming. Ebola is a virus, not a bacteria like plague, but the difficulty of containment even in secure labs, and the possibilities of mutation - as far as I know, they’re not dissimilar. Especially if a government lab has been fucking around trying to weaponise it, as I suspect happened here.
I will never understand the thought behind weaponizing diseases. They kill indiscriminately, even you, the developer or the president who orders it’s release. Anybody who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves.
I think the idea is to develop a vaccine or cure along with the disease so you can deploy that selectively.
Doesn’t make the idea any better though.
Especially because diseases obviously mutate and the cure may then be ineffective!
I wish ppl understood this about nuclear weapons. Like ok so you want to attack that country over there… what do you think 60 seconds to midnight means exactly?
Really any weapons. Start a war is literally fucking around and finding out. It all comes with blow back.
Everyone has the same choice to be assholes. It’s not a super power. Just a choice.
This is why all of the interest in genetics and gene manipulation by the creepy rich, like Epstein and company, should freak people out into swift action
They say fiction predicts fact…
Those who weaponize diseases don’t think that far ahead. They don’t care, because it hurts other people, and that’s all they need to feel like they “won”.
I will never understand the thought behind weaponizing diseases. They kill indiscriminately, even you, the developer or the president who orders it’s release. Anybody who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves.
“fuck them” mentality is the reason.
His book The Demon in the Freezer is also really good and about small pox.
Incidentally there are two facilities in the world that contain and research smallpox, one in Russia and one, of course, in the USA. The latter has previously had “incidents”.
Aw shit, here we go again…
