For those who didn't click:
Possible lab-acquired pneumonic plague death in Siberia — 197 contacts under observation, hospital quarantined
Summary:
A 28-year-old lab worker in Russia's Irkutsk Region died 1 Oct 2026 from what officials are calling possible pneumonic plague — a suspected laboratory-acquired infection.
What reportedly happened:
· ~25 Sep: She broke a test tube containing live Yersinia pestis while collecting samples at an anti-plague research facility
· 29 Sep: Hospitalized with severe pneumonia, put on a ventilator
· 1 Oct: Died at Shelekhov District Hospital
Response so far:
· 197 contacts identified; 189 hospitalized for observation across 3+ facilities
· Shelekhov hospital's inpatient dept under quarantine (no admissions/discharges)
· Russia's chief sanitary officer Anna Popova flew to Irkutsk for an emergency meeting
· FSB reportedly escorted ambulances transporting contacts
· Criminal investigation opened for sanitary violations resulting in death
· As of 2 Oct, no contacts showing symptoms
The big questions:
· Officials (except Buryatia's head) are stopping short of confirming plague
· If it was a known lab exposure, why wasn't she on antibiotic prophylaxis or isolated sooner?
· She was treated in a general district hospital while symptomatic — potential window for nosocomial/community exposure
· No mention of prophylaxis for the 197 contacts, which is odd if plague is genuinely suspected
· Pneumonic plague is the worst form: person-to-person via droplets, ~100% fatal untreated
Why it matters: If confirmed, this is a lab-acquired case, not natural spillover — with biosafety and transparency implications. The scale of response (national Rospotrebnadzor, FSB, specialist institutes in 3 cities) suggests they're treating it as a Category A agent.
Evolving situation. BEACON (Boston University) is requesting additional info.
It's definitely weird that they didn't treat her right away... If they knew what was in the test tube, they should have put her and anyone else exposed on prophylactic antibiotics right away. Do that, you can get through it.
Step one. Make lethal pathogen resistant to all known therapies. Check.
Step two. Make new therapy effective against said lethal pathogen. Ongoing.
Step three. Produce large amount of said effective therapy. Planned.
Step four. Infect target groups in western countries with said pathogen and demand vast amounts of money and/or changes in policy regarding sanctions and support for Ukraine in exchange for access to said therapy. Need for opportunity for renewed infections may complicate the latter goal.
These bioweapons were developed back in the Yeltsin era fwiw. There has been military concern about the 'soviet super plague' since like 1991 iirc. Putin is just maintaining the mission.
Best case is a lab tech truly accidentally screwed up moving something around but worst case it would be a very convenient cover, yes. Sure would be convenient for Putin/Russia if all of Europe is struck with plague given the Ukraine of it all.
It does look like they are doing the right thing, though. Admit an accident, identify contacts, detain and isolate/quarantine ( something Russia is very good at, individuals can be removed from gen population easily) treat suspected contacts and be ready to react to new cases outside the box.
I think if they planned a widescale bioweapon release they wouldn't start on their own doorstep. They would take great care to prepare themselves and their allies first and release simultaneously in many countries at once.
Russian here, not living in Russia for many years. Have mates there in the region.
The Kremlin are NOT doing the right thing as usual and as expected. The governor of the region where this is happening finally, today, after people have been requesting to know what is going on since Friday, talked about the death and said it was a pneumonia of unidentified etiology - no biggie. It's also reported right after information about bears and flu-vaccines.
All new reports about it are taken down as quickly as possible, some publications from today/yesterday were taken down also, while medical staff have been talking about plague openly and there are 5 hospitals under quarantine.
Baykalsk municipality has issued a warning to not travel to the area ( which is very close to there) and then took the warning down while there are reports that FSB are escorting ambulances with people that have been exposed. FSB are covering their asses, that's the only thing they are doing. ( FSB are the new KGB guys)
You’re assuming they’re competent enough not to make a mistake that causes a total shitshow, and that’s a bad assumption, given that there’s plenty of history of exactly that happening.
We already heard about this, so... Could be worse? Either way, this is a bacterial disease. Considerably easier to treat than a virus, though you'd have to get treated immediately since this seems to become fatal in days. Also because of that it's less likely to spread around like covid did.
Most of the people who get it will probably die, even without running out of antibiotics, just because of how quickly it progresses and then kills the patient. Dead people in countries with decent handling of diseased bodies don't spread it further.
COVID spread everywhere because it rarely kills, sits around in your for a while before you have symptoms, and then lasts a while with symptoms, and there's barely anything you can do to treat it once you have it. Just treat symptoms and ride it out.
You are wrong, pneumonic plague is not that contagious and if it was a ploy to weaken Europe, one, Irkustsk is literally on the other side of the world, and two, it would decimate Russia far worse than Europe because it started in Russia.
For Russia, a drone with the plague would have been better, but it wouldn't be this plague to begin with because it's not that contagious. A modified Smallpox, or Sars, would have been a much better pick, and not in Russia, because why would you kill yourself to kill another when you can just not do that.
Also it usually kills all infected within 36 hours. As horrible as that is, it's far too fast and aggressive to become a pandemic, and can be treated by ordinary antibiotics.
Nobody is worried about a natural origin pathogen, everyone is concerned it's an engineered version of pneumonic plague that is likely more virulent than what would exist in nature.
That's not what I'm saying per say, what I'm saying is, it's not a ploy to weaken Europe, quite literally, worst place to put said weapon. It could be a bio engineered virus sure, maybe even a try at a bio weapon if we're at the extreme, but for now, it just seems like a lab fucked up and just accidentally infected a couple of people, and as a precaution, the 200 people have been put on a watchlist to make sure it doesn't spread further
People see it go really bad once and then for the next decades, every time something remotely similar happens they go “omg it’s happening again!!!”
That’s why all Reddit can imagine is a pandemic and china invading Taiwan, “well in my recent lifetime I have a single datapoint saying this always happens!”
Russia has a proven history of doing that kind of research...read Demon in the freezer. Or read the testimony of multiple whistle blowers, and UN Inspectors.
Please send by plane infected people in Montreal. During Covid we were proudly the 7th deadliest city in the world. Next virus is our chance to be 1st!
It's like I hear these phrases all the time now: "Just like it's right out of a Hollywood film" and "here we go again" and "it's a once-in-a-lifetime probability so everything is fine"
Presumably Healthy adult researchers dying of pneumatic plague in a lying war-slinging country... And the research was on prevention? Hmm.
https://theconversation.com/the-threat-of-biological-warfare-is-real-a-new-book-describes-the-potential-devastation-288934 This is literally book situation. Book was released in July.
>The probable exposure event occurred on or around 25 Sep 2026, when the deceased reportedly broke a test tube containing liveYersinia pestisbacteria while collecting biomaterial samples for diagnostics at an anti-plague research facility. She was hospitalized on 29 Sep 2026 with severe pneumonia and placed on a ventilator before dying on 01 Oct 2026.
I bet a dollar that this was a bio weapons research facility pretending to be an anti-plague research facility. The work they were probably doing was top secret, so the worker couldn't disclose her exposure. The pathogens were probably bred to be antibiotic resistant, so no point in getting traditional antibiotics.
Logical assumption in many ways, but let’s really hope they hadn’t been able to develop a highly antibiotic-resistant mutation/version yet. Jeez that’s terrifying
Research on deadly diseases and their mutations is typically done be ready in case it is uncovered somewhere naturally.
Making a bio weapon bears little sense for the state actors because of the mutations. Even if you tailor it to attack only Europeans while self-destruct when encountering a Mongolian key gene sequence, it is a matter of time when among 100 million infected a version of the virus pops up. A version that would make it totally indiscriminative and ignores built-in safety for russians.
That's assuming we are a rational species (lmao) and that the psychos in charge and all the way down to those working in the lab have a bit of common sense.
You know, enough common sense not to have a vial of the plague break on you and report it.
Unless it is top secret because its a bio weapon and/or resistant to antibiotics so it's useless to treat anyway.
I hope the crows have a better time when they inherit the planet.
> Warning signs of a worsening situation include onset of fever or respiratory symptoms among any of the 197 contacts; identification of additional contacts not yet traced; evidence that the index patient had community exposures (e.g., public transportation, markets) prior to hospitalization; or any indication that the source vial or laboratory environment was not fully decontaminated. The ongoing criminal investigation and reported media restrictions on healthcare worker communications may delay early warning of secondary cases, posing an information-transparency risk for the public health response.
It's been four days since the lab worker was hospitalized, two days since she died, and BEACON is just now reporting it... that does not give me warm fuzzy feelings.
China held off revealing the COVID genome for over a week after they identified it, and two weeks passed before they revealed any information about patient numbers and disease spread. I expect similar transparency from Russia.
Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, was admitted to a hospital in Shelekhov in late September with severe pneumonia and died during the night of October 1–2. People of Baikal and Meduza reported that she had been infected with Yersinia pestis and described the illness as pneumonic plague. Reports have also circulated about a possible laboratory incident, although the precise route of infection has not been independently established.
Meduza reported that the hospital in Shelekhov had already been closed on October 1. Admissions and discharges were suspended in several departments, relatives were no longer allowed to enter, and staff were isolated at their workplace. Local residents had reported the closure before there was broader public communication about the situation.
RTVI reported that 197 contacts had been identified, of whom 189 were hospitalized or isolated for observation. Published figures listed 114 people in one facility, 63 in another and 12 at the Anti-Plague Research Institute. It was also reported that contacts of this first group, effectively a second contact ring, would be traced and monitored. There is no evidence yet that this entire second ring has actually been quarantined.
REN TV/5-TV reported that some of the hospitalized contacts were showing symptoms. This has not been independently confirmed by a second source, so it does not establish secondary plague cases.
The first reports about the hospital restrictions appeared in local Shelekhov social-media channels before the wider story emerged. The local channel Moi Shelekhov, citing readers, reported that relatives were no longer being allowed into the hospital from the afternoon of October 1. Svodka Shelekhov, a local news channel with around 18,800 subscribers and a tip bot for residents, also reported the hospital quarantine and suspension of laboratory testing.
People of Baikal subsequently reported information coming directly from Shelekhov residents and local sources. Residents said they had seen people in protective suits, masks and gloves in the city. Residents also reported that medical masks were being distributed in kindergartens. People of Baikal separately reported, citing its sources, that FSB officers were escorting ambulances transporting people who had been in contact with Shipilova for examination.
There is also an active local community chat, Shelekhov Obshchenie, with more than 9,000 members, linked to the Svodka Shelekhov local news channel. People of Baikal has also been actively soliciting information from residents and relatives through its own anonymous feedback channels.
On October 3, the municipal authorities in Baikalsk warned residents to temporarily avoid travelling to Shelekhov and surrounding settlements because of reports of plague. NTS Irkutsk and The Insider documented that the warning was removed approximately two hours later.
SOTA reported that REN TV also removed several of its earlier Telegram posts about the case, including reports concerning the number of hospitalized contacts.
IRK reported that Irkutsk postponed a major planned city event because of the epidemiological situation.
RTVI reported that the Irkutsk branch of the Civil Aviation University cancelled classes. According to an internal source, employees were advised not to come to work and to avoid public transport and crowded places.
IrCity reported that IrkAZ, the large aluminium plant in Shelekhov, introduced a mask requirement on October 3. The plant director announced the measure himself and asked employees to report immediately if they developed symptoms.
The Insider reported that residents of Irkutsk and Shelekhov had begun buying antibiotics, with shortages of certain medicines reported at pharmacies.
Shipilova was also a co-author of research into the antibiotic susceptibility of Siberian Yersinia pestis strains, published in the proceedings of the 2026 Pokrovsky Infectious Diseases Congress. In one of the testing methods, divergent values were found for several antibiotics, including streptomycin, amikacin, chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin. The researchers said the discrepancies required further investigation. This does not establish that the strain with which Shipilova may have been infected was antibiotic-resistant.
People of Baikal, Novaya Gazeta Europe and Important Stories reported that several hospitals in Irkutsk itself had been placed under a three-week quarantine/restricted regime. Facilities named include City Hospitals No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10, the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children’s Hospital and at least one maternity hospital. Hospitalized patients reportedly cannot leave to visit relatives and visitors are prohibited.
A healthcare source told People of Baikal that doctors in Irkutsk are now openly discussing plague, although that diagnosis reportedly does not appear in official hospital documents.
TV Rain also reported that relatives of a patient in a maternity hospital said doctors had explicitly cited plague as the reason for the restrictions.
This contrasts sharply with the official account.
KyrTAG and K-News reported on October 4 that Kyrgyzstan had tightened sanitary-quarantine controls at its state borders in response to reports of plague in Russia. Border checkpoints were placed on heightened alert, with people, vehicles and goods subject to sanitary controls.
Kursiv Uzbekistan reported that Uzbekistan had also strengthened sanitary surveillance following the reported plague case in Russia and was monitoring travel movements and contacts.
I work biological research and honestly there’s nothing exceptional about this story. It’s tragic, but it’s not the first time something like this has happened, even specifically with the plague. Don’t fall into conspiracy, I hope an investigation will determine if this was lab mismanagement or operator error
Yeah, the implications are not good. Either (1) researchers are skimping on PPE while working with dangerous pathogens, in which case a broken test tube is the least of the problems at that (supposedly state-affiliated and very important) regional facility, or (2) the anti-plague system is going back to its historical roots (IYKYK).
They do not used sealed hoods for Yersinia Pestis. They normally used a Class II Biosafety Cabinet (sealed are Class III).
A broken test tube can reasonably happen when transferring samples to a hood. It is also possible that the tube had a sample (maybe a biopsy sample) that was suspect for plague but not confirmed.
Some research also involves infecting animals with a biological agent. You would be surprised by the number of lab incidents related to a lab tech accidentally stabbing themselves with a used needle. These kinds of spillovers are called Lab-Acquired Infections and they are interesting to read up on (at least they are for me having worked in a lab).
Class III BSC (hoods) are *generally only used for BSL Level 4 Pathogens. I did not come up with this naming scheme. (Class II hoods are used for BSL-2 and BSL-3 pathogens and are not sealed, but use an air curtain to prevent contamination leaving the hood).
And then Pathogens can have letter grades too. This article said it was being treated as a Category A pathogen (which is typical for pestis and is the highest risk classification). This is a biosafety categorization that doesn't correlate with BSL classification (there are B pathogens that are BSL-2 and C pathogens that are BSL-3).
Was this necessary? We don’t even know if they are developing biochemical weapon like some people claimed or just doing regular research. If it’s the latter, a scientist who just happened to be Russian died… trying to make the world better.
Edit: You guys are not serious people or scientists. A scientist died, you have no proof whatsoever what she was doing and you went ahead and said all scientists in Russia are bad people. What if I said all scientists in America are evil because America and Trump are evil? How does that make you feel?
Regardless of whether they were conducting offensive biological warfare research (and it is impossible to determine this with just the facts known now, although I lean towards saying 'no'), it is indeed unsurprising that Russian authorities have not been forthcoming with the situation.
For one, it's Russia, a country where transparency quite literally goes flying out the window.
Furthermore, the Russian (formerly Soviet) anti-plague system is firmly on the state-oriented, biosecurity/biodefense side of things (as opposed to more academically-oriented biological or medical research), so high sensitivity is to be expected. And at the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious here, when it comes to biological research, the line between offensive and defensive research tends to be rather thin and unclear (and this is the case for many, many countries, the U.S. included, not just Russia).
Russia has zero extra money and resources for anything that doesn't involve its current war effort. They are not dumping millions of dollars into research to benefit the Russian people. Theu are spending every ruble they can find on war material. This was most likely bioweapons research, and hopefully they contained their mistake. If it was a mistake.
Why was there exposure of competent bacteria? Usually when working with these kind of organisms they are edited to ensure they cannot survive Ina human, for example by making them very iron dependent.
Isn't this only done when researching vaccines and therapies, or otherwise for stuff like E. coli where you're just using it as a tool in the lab and not necessarily trying to research the strain itself? For more 'pure' biological research you'd work with the non-attenuated wild stains instead, yes?
Besides, some research even goes the other way, e.g. manipulating pathogens (so creating a modified strain which may or may not have increased viability) to better understand their mechanisms, like how they infect cells and cause disease.
No, also for other research dangerous organisms can be attenuated so less stringent safety measures are necessary and for safety of the researchers.
Last time a researcher died of yersinia pestis was because he worked with an iron dependent strain that should not be that hazardous to work with. Except he didn't know he had heritable extremely high iron levels in his blood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Casadaban
This doesnt add up to me. How does a known exposure of a deadly but treatable bacteria result in a death and 197 contacts? And out of a lab researching it where PPE should be extremely strict?
To me it feels like something is missing from this.
I get it, but I don’t think we could laugh. It would be fucking terrifying. Especially if it’s something as deadly as pneumonic plague. We’d be absolutely fucked.
Ambitious-Pirate-505 | 21 hours ago
For those who didn't click: Possible lab-acquired pneumonic plague death in Siberia — 197 contacts under observation, hospital quarantined
Summary:
A 28-year-old lab worker in Russia's Irkutsk Region died 1 Oct 2026 from what officials are calling possible pneumonic plague — a suspected laboratory-acquired infection.
What reportedly happened:
· ~25 Sep: She broke a test tube containing live Yersinia pestis while collecting samples at an anti-plague research facility · 29 Sep: Hospitalized with severe pneumonia, put on a ventilator · 1 Oct: Died at Shelekhov District Hospital
Response so far:
· 197 contacts identified; 189 hospitalized for observation across 3+ facilities · Shelekhov hospital's inpatient dept under quarantine (no admissions/discharges) · Russia's chief sanitary officer Anna Popova flew to Irkutsk for an emergency meeting · FSB reportedly escorted ambulances transporting contacts · Criminal investigation opened for sanitary violations resulting in death · As of 2 Oct, no contacts showing symptoms
The big questions:
· Officials (except Buryatia's head) are stopping short of confirming plague · If it was a known lab exposure, why wasn't she on antibiotic prophylaxis or isolated sooner? · She was treated in a general district hospital while symptomatic — potential window for nosocomial/community exposure · No mention of prophylaxis for the 197 contacts, which is odd if plague is genuinely suspected · Pneumonic plague is the worst form: person-to-person via droplets, ~100% fatal untreated
Why it matters: If confirmed, this is a lab-acquired case, not natural spillover — with biosafety and transparency implications. The scale of response (national Rospotrebnadzor, FSB, specialist institutes in 3 cities) suggests they're treating it as a Category A agent.
Evolving situation. BEACON (Boston University) is requesting additional info.
Source: BEACON RFI, 3 Oct 2026
ACrazyDog | 20 hours ago
I am glad we have an institution keeping an eye on this
solojones1138 | 19 hours ago
It's definitely weird that they didn't treat her right away... If they knew what was in the test tube, they should have put her and anyone else exposed on prophylactic antibiotics right away. Do that, you can get through it.
Without antibiotics, though, it's 100% fatal.
LuluGarou11 | 15 hours ago
No point in treating an exposure to a pathogen designed to be resistant to known prophylactics..
HumanWithComputer | 12 hours ago
Step one. Make lethal pathogen resistant to all known therapies. Check.
Step two. Make new therapy effective against said lethal pathogen. Ongoing.
Step three. Produce large amount of said effective therapy. Planned.
Step four. Infect target groups in western countries with said pathogen and demand vast amounts of money and/or changes in policy regarding sanctions and support for Ukraine in exchange for access to said therapy. Need for opportunity for renewed infections may complicate the latter goal.
'Hybrid' warfare Putin style.
LuluGarou11 | 11 hours ago
These bioweapons were developed back in the Yeltsin era fwiw. There has been military concern about the 'soviet super plague' since like 1991 iirc. Putin is just maintaining the mission.
Best case is a lab tech truly accidentally screwed up moving something around but worst case it would be a very convenient cover, yes. Sure would be convenient for Putin/Russia if all of Europe is struck with plague given the Ukraine of it all.
SqueezyKeewee | 11 hours ago
This is rather fucked up.
Id be down for quarantining the whole of Russia at this stage
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
Jesus you guys are hysterical
Dpek1234 | an hour ago
I have the feeling this will end up with nukes being thrown rather quickly
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
Step one: make up some bullshit hypothesis
Step two: fear monger on Reddit
fnu_lnu_1965 | 9 hours ago
Perhaps she didn't tell anyone for fear of losing her job.
WrathOfMogg | 22 hours ago
Hey at least we have an administration with a proven track record on pandemics! Everybody lube your buttholes for those flashlights.
Spez_is-a-nazi | 21 hours ago
And of course we can trust Putin to do the right thing….checks recent history oh dear….
darkest_irish_lass | 11 hours ago
It does look like they are doing the right thing, though. Admit an accident, identify contacts, detain and isolate/quarantine ( something Russia is very good at, individuals can be removed from gen population easily) treat suspected contacts and be ready to react to new cases outside the box.
I think if they planned a widescale bioweapon release they wouldn't start on their own doorstep. They would take great care to prepare themselves and their allies first and release simultaneously in many countries at once.
hiddenpoolwarriror | 2 hours ago
Russian here, not living in Russia for many years. Have mates there in the region.
The Kremlin are NOT doing the right thing as usual and as expected. The governor of the region where this is happening finally, today, after people have been requesting to know what is going on since Friday, talked about the death and said it was a pneumonia of unidentified etiology - no biggie. It's also reported right after information about bears and flu-vaccines.
All new reports about it are taken down as quickly as possible, some publications from today/yesterday were taken down also, while medical staff have been talking about plague openly and there are 5 hospitals under quarantine.
Baykalsk municipality has issued a warning to not travel to the area ( which is very close to there) and then took the warning down while there are reports that FSB are escorting ambulances with people that have been exposed. FSB are covering their asses, that's the only thing they are doing. ( FSB are the new KGB guys)
You’re assuming they’re competent enough not to make a mistake that causes a total shitshow, and that’s a bad assumption, given that there’s plenty of history of exactly that happening.
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
Redditors think they’re the smartest people on the planet because they can blindly draw a single pattern with their bias.
asyork | 20 hours ago
We already heard about this, so... Could be worse? Either way, this is a bacterial disease. Considerably easier to treat than a virus, though you'd have to get treated immediately since this seems to become fatal in days. Also because of that it's less likely to spread around like covid did.
prinses_zonnetje | 15 hours ago
Do we have gave the vast amount of the correct antibiotics required to treat everybody once it spreads? I really doubt that
asyork | 4 hours ago
Most of the people who get it will probably die, even without running out of antibiotics, just because of how quickly it progresses and then kills the patient. Dead people in countries with decent handling of diseased bodies don't spread it further.
COVID spread everywhere because it rarely kills, sits around in your for a while before you have symptoms, and then lasts a while with symptoms, and there's barely anything you can do to treat it once you have it. Just treat symptoms and ride it out.
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
“Once it spreads” is doing a crazy amount of heavy lifting.
FightForFreeDumb | 11 hours ago
This could be an engineered pathogen that is resistant to Abx
asyork | 4 hours ago
100% impossible because it's not even a virus, and humans have been dealing with this disease for centuries.
randomandy90 | 22 hours ago
And I’m sure we might still be able to afford bleach for our vein’s like our administration recommended during Covid as well.
ACrazyDog | 20 hours ago
Bleach used to be a buck a gallon, but after covid I have seen it as high as $8. And bleach wipes aren’t available at all anymore
victor4700 | 21 hours ago
And don’t worry about eating anything! It’s definitely not toxic and accidentally full of glass or asbestos.
citizen42069101 | 22 hours ago
This is the high five to weaken europe. Fuck I hope I'm wrong
ParticularArea8224 | 21 hours ago
You are wrong, pneumonic plague is not that contagious and if it was a ploy to weaken Europe, one, Irkustsk is literally on the other side of the world, and two, it would decimate Russia far worse than Europe because it started in Russia.
For Russia, a drone with the plague would have been better, but it wouldn't be this plague to begin with because it's not that contagious. A modified Smallpox, or Sars, would have been a much better pick, and not in Russia, because why would you kill yourself to kill another when you can just not do that.
Neamow | 12 hours ago
Also it usually kills all infected within 36 hours. As horrible as that is, it's far too fast and aggressive to become a pandemic, and can be treated by ordinary antibiotics.
FightForFreeDumb | 11 hours ago
Nobody is worried about a natural origin pathogen, everyone is concerned it's an engineered version of pneumonic plague that is likely more virulent than what would exist in nature.
ParticularArea8224 | 9 hours ago
That's not what I'm saying per say, what I'm saying is, it's not a ploy to weaken Europe, quite literally, worst place to put said weapon. It could be a bio engineered virus sure, maybe even a try at a bio weapon if we're at the extreme, but for now, it just seems like a lab fucked up and just accidentally infected a couple of people, and as a precaution, the 200 people have been put on a watchlist to make sure it doesn't spread further
citizen42069101 | 10 hours ago
Imagine a tsar bomba whoopsie with a bio weapon.
Although the fast fatality rate is a hinderance for transmission.
I try to find the balance between the sky is falling and nothing ever happens. That's a fools errand, but keeps me thinking.
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
People see it go really bad once and then for the next decades, every time something remotely similar happens they go “omg it’s happening again!!!”
That’s why all Reddit can imagine is a pandemic and china invading Taiwan, “well in my recent lifetime I have a single datapoint saying this always happens!”
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
You mean everyone is wildly speculating because they have Russia hysteria.
FightForFreeDumb | 5 hours ago
Russia has a proven history of doing that kind of research...read Demon in the freezer. Or read the testimony of multiple whistle blowers, and UN Inspectors.
Derpitoe | 10 hours ago
IIRC plague is bacterial, not viral, so thats less concerning imo we got plenty of antibiotics.
Morbanth | 9 hours ago
>we got plenty of antibiotics.
For now.
CeeMomster | 7 hours ago
Not really…
Derpitoe | 6 hours ago
it grows on bread
AnonymousPerson1115 | 21 hours ago
There are an average of 7 plague cases per year in the US. Pneumonic plague does happen but usually represents in less than 1% of cases.
ButterscotchFancy912 | 21 hours ago
And no measeles or ebola outbreaks
SkillsInPillsTrack2 | 8 hours ago
Please send by plane infected people in Montreal. During Covid we were proudly the 7th deadliest city in the world. Next virus is our chance to be 1st!
[OP] Caesarea_G | 22 hours ago
SOURCE: Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communications Network (BEACON), a program by Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Disease
NIRPL | 22 hours ago
Well this isn't good
reallyrn | 22 hours ago
It's like I hear these phrases all the time now: "Just like it's right out of a Hollywood film" and "here we go again" and "it's a once-in-a-lifetime probability so everything is fine"
Presumably Healthy adult researchers dying of pneumatic plague in a lying war-slinging country... And the research was on prevention? Hmm.
Evol_extra | 15 hours ago
https://theconversation.com/the-threat-of-biological-warfare-is-real-a-new-book-describes-the-potential-devastation-288934 This is literally book situation. Book was released in July.
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
Yeah America did it in Korea already. It’s been a think since WW2
LonnieJaw748 | 22 hours ago
>The probable exposure event occurred on or around 25 Sep 2026, when the deceased reportedly broke a test tube containing live Yersinia pestisbacteria while collecting biomaterial samples for diagnostics at an anti-plague research facility. She was hospitalized on 29 Sep 2026 with severe pneumonia and placed on a ventilator before dying on 01 Oct 2026.
Damn, that was fast.
ParticularArea8224 | 21 hours ago
pneumatic plague is cruel in that way, 100% fatal without treatment and it kills you in days if you're lucky.
Alternative_Lab_8501 | 15 hours ago
Im thinking how is should work, pneumatic one 🤔
ROMVLVSCAESARXXI | 20 hours ago
Isn’t that the plague of Justinian?
That was a truly NASTY way to die
LonnieJaw748 | 20 hours ago
It appears so. Black Plague as well.
enemyofchrist | 19 hours ago
That was mostly bubonic though right? Not pneumonic.
AxiomaticInversion | 19 hours ago
Same bacteria, different location
DitherBunny_Sappy | 14 hours ago
Additionally, bubonic, septicemic and pulmonary plague can turn into each other. It mostly depends on the means of transmission IIRC.
FruitOfTheVineFruit | 22 hours ago
I bet a dollar that this was a bio weapons research facility pretending to be an anti-plague research facility. The work they were probably doing was top secret, so the worker couldn't disclose her exposure. The pathogens were probably bred to be antibiotic resistant, so no point in getting traditional antibiotics.
ButterscotchFancy912 | 21 hours ago
Elevetor movie script pitch right there
hmmyeahiguess | 21 hours ago
Logical assumption in many ways, but let’s really hope they hadn’t been able to develop a highly antibiotic-resistant mutation/version yet. Jeez that’s terrifying
IgnoranceIsYou | 4 hours ago
You’d think that if they created that they would have also created a cure for themselves, kinda stupid of them lol
hmmyeahiguess | 3 hours ago
With the incompetence they keep showing, I’m amazed something like this isn’t far more common.
Calm-Background2247 | 20 hours ago
Umbrella corporation gonna sue for this blatant ripoff! 🪦
Ramental | 15 hours ago
Research on deadly diseases and their mutations is typically done be ready in case it is uncovered somewhere naturally.
Making a bio weapon bears little sense for the state actors because of the mutations. Even if you tailor it to attack only Europeans while self-destruct when encountering a Mongolian key gene sequence, it is a matter of time when among 100 million infected a version of the virus pops up. A version that would make it totally indiscriminative and ignores built-in safety for russians.
That-Advance-9619 | 14 hours ago
That's assuming we are a rational species (lmao) and that the psychos in charge and all the way down to those working in the lab have a bit of common sense.
You know, enough common sense not to have a vial of the plague break on you and report it.
Unless it is top secret because its a bio weapon and/or resistant to antibiotics so it's useless to treat anyway.
I hope the crows have a better time when they inherit the planet.
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
“We’re irrationals so I should always assume the worst no matter what”
This is an amazing example of human irrationality.
That-Advance-9619 | 7 hours ago
The USA elected a pedophile whose circle wants to bring about the end times as described in a fucking book.
There is something very wrong with us as a species on a level that is terrifying to even describe or discern.
Ramental | an hour ago
There had not been a bioweapon of such kind released so far, despite hundreds if not thousands of labs working with desdly patogenes.
Similarly with the nukes, never used against another state after the first two.
Pretty rational to me.
Compused | an hour ago
This was a bacterium not a virus.
badken | 18 hours ago
A concerning thing the report mentions:
> Warning signs of a worsening situation include onset of fever or respiratory symptoms among any of the 197 contacts; identification of additional contacts not yet traced; evidence that the index patient had community exposures (e.g., public transportation, markets) prior to hospitalization; or any indication that the source vial or laboratory environment was not fully decontaminated. The ongoing criminal investigation and reported media restrictions on healthcare worker communications may delay early warning of secondary cases, posing an information-transparency risk for the public health response.
It's been four days since the lab worker was hospitalized, two days since she died, and BEACON is just now reporting it... that does not give me warm fuzzy feelings.
echodarlin | 18 hours ago
I keep checking the news but I don't see too much being reported on this, it would be nice to have an update.
badken | 18 hours ago
China held off revealing the COVID genome for over a week after they identified it, and two weeks passed before they revealed any information about patient numbers and disease spread. I expect similar transparency from Russia.
ChubzAndDubz | 16 hours ago
And when they did it was basically worthless information doctored by the state. We’ll never actually know the toll covid took on China.
wolacouska | 8 hours ago
Oh Christ you guys are still on that “China covered up millions of COVID deaths!!!!” Crap
ChubzAndDubz | 6 hours ago
Their official reported death toll is only 122,398. You’re seriously going to believe so few people died in a country of over a billion?
You probably would have believed the Soviet Union that Chernobyl was just a mild nuclear accident too.
goji836 | 10 hours ago
Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, was admitted to a hospital in Shelekhov in late September with severe pneumonia and died during the night of October 1–2. People of Baikal and Meduza reported that she had been infected with Yersinia pestis and described the illness as pneumonic plague. Reports have also circulated about a possible laboratory incident, although the precise route of infection has not been independently established.
Meduza reported that the hospital in Shelekhov had already been closed on October 1. Admissions and discharges were suspended in several departments, relatives were no longer allowed to enter, and staff were isolated at their workplace. Local residents had reported the closure before there was broader public communication about the situation.
RTVI reported that 197 contacts had been identified, of whom 189 were hospitalized or isolated for observation. Published figures listed 114 people in one facility, 63 in another and 12 at the Anti-Plague Research Institute. It was also reported that contacts of this first group, effectively a second contact ring, would be traced and monitored. There is no evidence yet that this entire second ring has actually been quarantined.
REN TV/5-TV reported that some of the hospitalized contacts were showing symptoms. This has not been independently confirmed by a second source, so it does not establish secondary plague cases.
The first reports about the hospital restrictions appeared in local Shelekhov social-media channels before the wider story emerged. The local channel Moi Shelekhov, citing readers, reported that relatives were no longer being allowed into the hospital from the afternoon of October 1. Svodka Shelekhov, a local news channel with around 18,800 subscribers and a tip bot for residents, also reported the hospital quarantine and suspension of laboratory testing.
People of Baikal subsequently reported information coming directly from Shelekhov residents and local sources. Residents said they had seen people in protective suits, masks and gloves in the city. Residents also reported that medical masks were being distributed in kindergartens. People of Baikal separately reported, citing its sources, that FSB officers were escorting ambulances transporting people who had been in contact with Shipilova for examination.
There is also an active local community chat, Shelekhov Obshchenie, with more than 9,000 members, linked to the Svodka Shelekhov local news channel. People of Baikal has also been actively soliciting information from residents and relatives through its own anonymous feedback channels.
On October 3, the municipal authorities in Baikalsk warned residents to temporarily avoid travelling to Shelekhov and surrounding settlements because of reports of plague. NTS Irkutsk and The Insider documented that the warning was removed approximately two hours later.
SOTA reported that REN TV also removed several of its earlier Telegram posts about the case, including reports concerning the number of hospitalized contacts.
IRK reported that Irkutsk postponed a major planned city event because of the epidemiological situation.
RTVI reported that the Irkutsk branch of the Civil Aviation University cancelled classes. According to an internal source, employees were advised not to come to work and to avoid public transport and crowded places.
IrCity reported that IrkAZ, the large aluminium plant in Shelekhov, introduced a mask requirement on October 3. The plant director announced the measure himself and asked employees to report immediately if they developed symptoms.
The Insider reported that residents of Irkutsk and Shelekhov had begun buying antibiotics, with shortages of certain medicines reported at pharmacies.
Shipilova was also a co-author of research into the antibiotic susceptibility of Siberian Yersinia pestis strains, published in the proceedings of the 2026 Pokrovsky Infectious Diseases Congress. In one of the testing methods, divergent values were found for several antibiotics, including streptomycin, amikacin, chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin. The researchers said the discrepancies required further investigation. This does not establish that the strain with which Shipilova may have been infected was antibiotic-resistant.
People of Baikal, Novaya Gazeta Europe and Important Stories reported that several hospitals in Irkutsk itself had been placed under a three-week quarantine/restricted regime. Facilities named include City Hospitals No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10, the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children’s Hospital and at least one maternity hospital. Hospitalized patients reportedly cannot leave to visit relatives and visitors are prohibited.
A healthcare source told People of Baikal that doctors in Irkutsk are now openly discussing plague, although that diagnosis reportedly does not appear in official hospital documents.
TV Rain also reported that relatives of a patient in a maternity hospital said doctors had explicitly cited plague as the reason for the restrictions.
This contrasts sharply with the official account.
KyrTAG and K-News reported on October 4 that Kyrgyzstan had tightened sanitary-quarantine controls at its state borders in response to reports of plague in Russia. Border checkpoints were placed on heightened alert, with people, vehicles and goods subject to sanitary controls.
Kursiv Uzbekistan reported that Uzbekistan had also strengthened sanitary surveillance following the reported plague case in Russia and was monitoring travel movements and contacts.
goji836 | 10 hours ago
[ Removed by Reddit ]
DoctorQuincyME | 15 hours ago
It's not uncommon to not immediately tell the public, it would take a few days to understand what happened and how much of a danger it is.
You don't want to stand on a podium and start mass panic if it ends up being nothing.
Memory_Less | 13 hours ago
Well, if and when you get warm fuzzy feelings it’s already too late. So not having fuzzy feelings is a good thing. /s
i_sniff_pineapples | 21 hours ago
I work biological research and honestly there’s nothing exceptional about this story. It’s tragic, but it’s not the first time something like this has happened, even specifically with the plague. Don’t fall into conspiracy, I hope an investigation will determine if this was lab mismanagement or operator error
Lolomelon | 22 hours ago
She broke a test tube. Just like the movies! I don’t buy it.
[OP] Caesarea_G | 22 hours ago
Yeah, the implications are not good. Either (1) researchers are skimping on PPE while working with dangerous pathogens, in which case a broken test tube is the least of the problems at that (supposedly state-affiliated and very important) regional facility, or (2) the anti-plague system is going back to its historical roots (IYKYK).
TomOgir | 21 hours ago
Given how the war in Ukraine is going I wouldn't be surprised if they lack ppe
ThenOneDaySheWokeUp | 20 hours ago
These type of things should be done in a sealed hood to prevent this kind of situation. I feel sorry for her.
Prestigious-Tap9674 | 19 hours ago
They do not used sealed hoods for Yersinia Pestis. They normally used a Class II Biosafety Cabinet (sealed are Class III).
A broken test tube can reasonably happen when transferring samples to a hood. It is also possible that the tube had a sample (maybe a biopsy sample) that was suspect for plague but not confirmed.
Some research also involves infecting animals with a biological agent. You would be surprised by the number of lab incidents related to a lab tech accidentally stabbing themselves with a used needle. These kinds of spillovers are called Lab-Acquired Infections and they are interesting to read up on (at least they are for me having worked in a lab).
badken | 18 hours ago
The BEACON report says:
> Several components of the report require further clarification. First, Y. pestis research is typically conducted in biosafety level 3 facilities.
Prestigious-Tap9674 | 18 hours ago
Class III BSC (hoods) are *generally only used for BSL Level 4 Pathogens. I did not come up with this naming scheme. (Class II hoods are used for BSL-2 and BSL-3 pathogens and are not sealed, but use an air curtain to prevent contamination leaving the hood).
badken | 18 hours ago
Heh... thanks for the info. Lovely naming scheme someone came up with there.
Prestigious-Tap9674 | 18 hours ago
And then Pathogens can have letter grades too. This article said it was being treated as a Category A pathogen (which is typical for pestis and is the highest risk classification). This is a biosafety categorization that doesn't correlate with BSL classification (there are B pathogens that are BSL-2 and C pathogens that are BSL-3).
fifi_la_fleuf | 13 hours ago
I don't buy it at all, not do I buy that Russia voluntarily communicated what happened and where in a timely manner.
anonymousasu | 22 hours ago
Fuckin Russia, just an absolute shitstain of a country. I’m surprised we even know this much.
caelynnsveneers | 18 hours ago
Was this necessary? We don’t even know if they are developing biochemical weapon like some people claimed or just doing regular research. If it’s the latter, a scientist who just happened to be Russian died… trying to make the world better.
Edit: You guys are not serious people or scientists. A scientist died, you have no proof whatsoever what she was doing and you went ahead and said all scientists in Russia are bad people. What if I said all scientists in America are evil because America and Trump are evil? How does that make you feel?
[OP] Caesarea_G | 17 hours ago
Regardless of whether they were conducting offensive biological warfare research (and it is impossible to determine this with just the facts known now, although I lean towards saying 'no'), it is indeed unsurprising that Russian authorities have not been forthcoming with the situation.
For one, it's Russia, a country where transparency quite literally goes flying out the window.
Furthermore, the Russian (formerly Soviet) anti-plague system is firmly on the state-oriented, biosecurity/biodefense side of things (as opposed to more academically-oriented biological or medical research), so high sensitivity is to be expected. And at the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious here, when it comes to biological research, the line between offensive and defensive research tends to be rather thin and unclear (and this is the case for many, many countries, the U.S. included, not just Russia).
Vegetaman916 | 14 hours ago
Russia has zero extra money and resources for anything that doesn't involve its current war effort. They are not dumping millions of dollars into research to benefit the Russian people. Theu are spending every ruble they can find on war material. This was most likely bioweapons research, and hopefully they contained their mistake. If it was a mistake.
dickipiki1 | 11 hours ago
Any, i mean any smart person working for russian federation, is bad.
Anything that benefits Putin will help their effort in hurting and controlling others
Memory_Less | 13 hours ago
Well I’ll be dammed, just when I thought AI was going to end us. /s
CaptBreeze | 10 hours ago
Oh great, here we go again.
Soosietyrell | 20 hours ago
Captain Trips, here we go
jackwhite886 | 20 hours ago
Shit. Alright, meet you in Nebraska.
BeachJustic3 | 18 hours ago
Annie Jacobsen really taking marketing her new book to a whole new level.
New_Westie | 21 hours ago
Giving Resident Evil vibes.
Traditional_Isopod80 | 16 hours ago
Well this isn't good..
prinses_zonnetje | 15 hours ago
Why was there exposure of competent bacteria? Usually when working with these kind of organisms they are edited to ensure they cannot survive Ina human, for example by making them very iron dependent.
[OP] Caesarea_G | 5 hours ago
Isn't this only done when researching vaccines and therapies, or otherwise for stuff like E. coli where you're just using it as a tool in the lab and not necessarily trying to research the strain itself? For more 'pure' biological research you'd work with the non-attenuated wild stains instead, yes?
Besides, some research even goes the other way, e.g. manipulating pathogens (so creating a modified strain which may or may not have increased viability) to better understand their mechanisms, like how they infect cells and cause disease.
prinses_zonnetje | 4 hours ago
No, also for other research dangerous organisms can be attenuated so less stringent safety measures are necessary and for safety of the researchers.
Last time a researcher died of yersinia pestis was because he worked with an iron dependent strain that should not be that hazardous to work with. Except he didn't know he had heritable extremely high iron levels in his blood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Casadaban
Vegetaman916 | 14 hours ago
It was probably gain of function bioweapons research. Maybe even engineered with extreme antibiotic resistance.
prinses_zonnetje | 14 hours ago
Exactly The use of viable bacteria has terrifying implications
Alternative_Lab_8501 | 15 hours ago
To have a weapon to unleash it on enemies
prinses_zonnetje | 14 hours ago
Exactly
And that is more terrifying than the incident itself
fishinfool4 | 21 hours ago
This doesnt add up to me. How does a known exposure of a deadly but treatable bacteria result in a death and 197 contacts? And out of a lab researching it where PPE should be extremely strict?
To me it feels like something is missing from this.
Vegetaman916 | 14 hours ago
What's missing is that it was most likely bioweapons research.
xeldj | 21 hours ago
Here we go again…
Calm-Background2247 | 20 hours ago
Oh boy, that doesn’t sound good. Hope that they can contain it.
Mak062 | 21 hours ago
I would fucking laugh at the irony if theres another pandemic during Trumps administration
ProsciuttoPizza | 19 hours ago
I get it, but I don’t think we could laugh. It would be fucking terrifying. Especially if it’s something as deadly as pneumonic plague. We’d be absolutely fucked.
ACrazyDog | 20 hours ago
And here we go again
bbbthet | 19 hours ago
This sounds really similar to the hypothetical scenario in Annie Jacobson’s latest book
PlutoJones42 | 13 hours ago
The advertising agencies are getting very creative
Jamoncorona | 18 hours ago
Looks like bio warfare is back on the menu, boys.
Reagalan | 13 hours ago
A real lab leak?
Onphone_irl | 18 hours ago
yo holy fuck how trustworthy is the source of info?
[OP] Caesarea_G | 18 hours ago
The source (of the report, not the plague!) is BEACON, which is affiliated with Boston University.
onthebrink42 | 21 hours ago
Here we go again
Salty_Introduction31 | 13 hours ago
So corona 2.0
RoutineEye5160 | 7 hours ago
This is eerily similar to how Annie Jacobsen’s new book “Biologicsl War” begins.
It just came out 2 months ago.
Very Scary!!
ua154isfun | 4 hours ago
Isn’t there a recent Annie Jacobsen book that deep dives the worst case scenario of a pneumonic plague lab incident in Russia? Anyone? Anyone?
Let’s hope this stays isolated and does not play out like that book…
Zaebot | 18 hours ago
Russia deserves a decent plague