Fears of a plague outbreak in Russia are growing after the death of a young scientist who worked at a facility specialising in deadly diseases. Darya Shipilova, 28, worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia before falling seriously ill with severe pneumonia and dying on Friday (October 2). Reports from Russia and Europe claim the researcher may have accidentally broken a tube containing live plague bacteria days before becoming ill, raising concerns that plague may have escaped the lab.
Health response and monitoring
Russian authorities have not confirmed the disease is spreading but have described her illness as pneumonia of unknown cause. Despite this, the incident sparked a major health response, with nearly 200 people who potentially came into contact with her reportedly placed under medical observation and precautions introduced at several hospitals. It is not known whether any more diagnoses have been made.
Symptoms and transmission
The disease at the centre of the scare is plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis – the same bacteria responsible for the Black Death which devastated Europe during the Middle Ages. The form causing particular concern in Russia is pneumonic plague, which affects the lungs. According to the UK Health Security Agency, symptoms can include fever, headache, weakness and rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain and coughing. Patients will also often cough up bloody or watery mucus.
Unlike the more common bubonic form of plague, pneumonic plague can spread directly between humans through infectious respiratory particles, normally requiring close and prolonged contact. Symptoms generally develop between one and seven days after infection. Without treatment, pneumonic plague is usually deadly, but it is caused by bacteria rather than a virus and can be successfully treated with antibiotics if caught quickly.
Risk to the UK
The prospect of plague spreading through Britain remains extremely remote. The UK Health Security Agency says plague is no longer found naturally in Britain and describes the probability of an infected traveller returning to the UK as “very low”. Pneumonic plague is also considerably harder to transmit than highly contagious respiratory viruses such as Covid-19, usually requiring close contact with an infected person.
Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said comparisons with the Covid pandemic should be treated with caution. He said pneumonic plague was a “very different disease”, emphasising that, unlike many viral respiratory illnesses, it can generally be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed quickly. In a post on the University website, he wrote: “Reports from Russia have inevitably drawn comparisons with Covid-19, but it is important to remember that pneumonic plague is a very different disease. It is caused by bacteria, Yersinia pestis, famous for causing the Black Death, that remains with us today mostly in animals across parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas.”
He added: “Pneumonic plague is particularly serious because it means the infection has reached the lungs and is nearly always fatal if not treated promptly. Unlike the bubonic plague which enters the body via infected flea bites, pneumonic plague can spread between people through respiratory droplets during close contact.” Dr Clarke also suggested the theory of a lab-acquired infection from a broken test tube seems far-fetched, noting that handling dangerous pathogens involves multiple layers of protection and that lab-acquired infections are rare events. Until more details emerge, he said it is difficult to assess whether this represents an isolated case, an occupational exposure, or evidence of wider transmission.
