28-year-old plague institute employee dies in Russia as officials deny plague threat

Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee of the Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died overnight on October 1–2 in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk. Following her death, authorities isolated roughly 200 people who had contact with her and placed the hospital where she had been treated under quarantine.

Reports quickly spread online that Shipilova had died of pneumonic plague contracted at her workplace, but pro-government media outlets deleted these articles almost immediately, and officials stated the cause of death was pneumonia rather than plague.

The independent outlet People of Baikal, whose investigation was translated by Meduza, traveled to Irkutsk and Shelekhov to examine whether negligence played a role. According to their reporting, Shipilova developed cold-like symptoms at work without fever, then her condition worsened and she developed swelling. She was hospitalized on September 29 and died days later.

After her death, the hospital was quarantined, with regional governor Igor Kobzev citing a "particularly dangerous infection" without naming plague specifically. That same day, Russia's chief public health officer, Anna Popova, flew to Irkutsk for an emergency meeting. Institute employees were isolated on-site, sleeping on chairs for three days while undergoing twice-daily testing.

A journalist reported unconfirmed claims that Shipilova had broken a test tube containing a pneumonic plague sample and concealed the incident. The head of the neighboring Buryatia region initially referenced plague in a public post before softening his wording.

Over the weekend, several Irkutsk hospitals introduced quarantine measures, and residents rushed to buy up antibiotics amid panic. Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's consumer protection agency, issued its first official comment only on October 4, stating the employee had suffered from pneumonia "of unknown cause" and that no laboratory accidents involving dangerous pathogens had occurred at the institute.