‘Anti-Epidemic Measures’ Enacted After 1 Dead From Plague, 200 Quarantined Amid Russian Lab Incident

A laboratory worker at a Russian institute built to study plague has died of the disease, and authorities have placed nearly 200 people under medical watch.

Regional media identified the woman as Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia, according to the independent outlet People of Baikal. She told hospital staff she had broken a test tube holding live bacteria while gathering samples, The Moscow Times reported. Meduza, citing regional media, said she was admitted Sept. 29 and died two days later after being put on a ventilator.

Authorities isolated nearly 200 people who may have crossed paths with her and hospitalized 189 for monitoring, Above the Norm News reported, with 114 at one facility, 63 at another and 12 at the institute. Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said the health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor had launched a full set of anti-epidemic measures, Newsweek reported. (RELATED: Ancient Mosquito Virus Plagues Western Florida)

Officials canceled public gatherings and opened a criminal case into possible safety violations resulting in a death, according to The Moscow Times. Kobzev added on Telegram that contacts showed no symptoms and tested negative.

Putin regime accused of plague cover-up after scientist dies in Siberia https://t.co/OStR12QZLH pic.twitter.com/QFOShKo5aG

Alexey Tsydenov, head of the neighboring Buryatia region, first wrote that the woman had died of plague before editing his post to say she “may have died” of it, Meduza reported. No agency issued a formal notice of her death. One account cited by Meduza claimed she fell ill after a trip to Thailand rather than from any lab accident.

Alex Washburne, an epidemiologist writing on Substack, doubted the official version, noting that a single broken tube at a facility staffed by roughly 90 scientists would not usually force 200 people into quarantine.

Media accounts described the illness as pneumonic plague, which Newsweek reported is the deadliest and most contagious form, attacking the lungs and passing between people through airborne droplets with an incubation window as short as a day. The bacterium behind it, Yersinia pestis, responds to antibiotics when caught early, Newsweek said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) logged close to 4,000 suspected cases across 10 countries from 2019 to 2025, Newsweek reported, while Russia’s last known infection struck a 10-year-old in 2016, according to Meduza. Surveillance continues because symptoms can appear days after exposure.