The Russian cover-up over the death of a plague scientist has deepened as members of her family are now refusing to speak about the case. Daria Shipolova, 28, died ten days ago, but an information blackout has been imposed over her funeral by Russian authorities. It is currently unknown whether the scientist, who died of suspected pneumonic plague, has been buried or not.
It’s also unclear if she has been or will be laid to rest normally or in a zinc coffin to prevent the spread of a dangerous infectious disease. Cremation is uncommon in Russia. A Russian Telegram channel recently got into contact with her father and brother, both of whom refused to speak about Daria’s death.
Family silence fuels speculation
It’s added to rumours that the Kremlin has gagged her family since Daria’s mother, Svetlana, a medical professional, accused doctors of failing to save her daughter and dismissed claims she was infected by a laboratory accident.
‘I’ve saved patients like that myself, more than one, but they didn’t save my daughter,’ she said last week. ‘They simply let my daughter die. They abandoned her and let her die.’ She has not spoken since. A source said: ‘It appears the scientist’s family is under pressure not to voice their concerns over her death.’
Expert points to lab accident
Putin loyalist Igor Kobzev, the Irkutsk regional governor, said all tests were complete and the infection did not spread. But Russian-born US expert Mikhail Favorov has concluded that Shipilova did contract plague from a mysterious laboratory accident at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, where she worked.
Favorov is an infectious-disease physician who worked at Moscow’s Ivanovsky Institute of Virology and headed the USSR National Centre for Viral Hepatitis before switching to work in the US. ‘She became infected at work. That is obvious,’ he told Russian Bild. ‘She was not out collecting ground squirrels anywhere. She went to work and carried out her duties.’
‘She must have inhaled the bacteria,’ he said. ‘I think the most realistic explanation is that while she was drying the material, the glass broke, and she could have inhaled it.’ She should have been wearing protective clothing, and ought to have reported the accident and taken antibiotics immediately, he said.
WHO renews calls for answers
He denied she was working on a bioweapon, amid speculation that laboratories like hers are used in a Putin programme for such illegal activities. ‘Plague is not particularly suitable for that purpose, because it is simply too complicated to use,’ he said. ‘Your own army could suffer even more. I do not believe those rumours. I believe there really was a laboratory accident.’
This comes as the World Health Organisation has renewed calls for Russia to explain the scientist’s death, even as Moscow says the incident in the Irkutsk region is now closed after it conducted more than 5,500 diagnostic tests of Shipilova’s contacts. Russia said ‘testing did not identify plague or other tested high-threat pathogens, and the death has been classified as pneumonia of undetermined aetiology.’
