By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-10-06 15:15:48 | Updated at 2026-10-07 19:47:49
1 day ago
A leading Oxford scientist has warned of dangerous research in laboratories worldwide following the mysterious death of a young researcher at a Russian anti-plague institute.
Professor Carl Heneghan, Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, said the incident had “echoes” of the unproven theory that Covid-19 may have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China - and called for new international rules governing work involving dangerous pathogens.
His warning comes after Darya Shipilova, 28, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, died after developing severe pneumonia.
Russian media reports claimed she may have been exposed to Yersinia pestis - the bacterium responsible for plague - after a test tube broke at the institute.
The mystery prompted a major response, with Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova travelling to Irkutsk, hospitals in the region introducing restrictions and hundreds of contacts reportedly monitored. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan also reportedly stepped-up health precautions.
Russian health authorities say tests found no evidence her illness was linked to pathogens she worked with and no accident involving dangerous microorganisms was recorded at the institute.
However nearly 200 people were reportedly put under observation or quarantined, while the US and World Health Organisation are monitoring the situation.
Prof Heneghan said the uncertainty highlighted a much bigger international problem surrounding laboratories working on potentially lethal organisms.
Prof Heneghan highlighted the dangers of ‘gain-of-function research’
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He said: “We have high security labs and people doing dangerous things with technology now out of control.
“We have no idea and no global standards and people are able to do things with artificial intelligence that we have no understanding of the consequences of.
“The trouble is with China and Russia we can speculate all we want but we may never find out unless they are open and transparent about their research.”
Prof Heneghan highlighted the dangers of ‘gain-of-function research’, where scientists alter pathogens to study how their behaviour may change. The field attracted intense scrutiny during the Covid pandemic because the virus emerged in Wuhan, home to a laboratory conducting research on bat coronaviruses. A lab origin for Covid remains theoretical but has never been proven.
An Oxford professor wants stronger international agreements governing biological research (file picture)
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He said: “There are all sorts of concerns about this kind of research and the gain of function research that many countries are experimenting with in opaque ways and we have no idea what they’re doing.”
He called for stronger international agreements governing biological research, pointing to the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning the use of biological and chemical weapons in war.
He said: “We should have protocols in place with people sticking to it.
“Politicians are distracted by other issues which I consider to be more minor but this is major and we have no idea what was in that tube in that lab.
“We do not know the evidence of the strain, whether it was genetically modified, and the official line is that it is an unknown strain of pneumonia.”
Prof Heneghan also called for Britain's health watchdog, the UK Health Security Agency to become part of the Ministry of Defence because of biological and other security threats, with a separate body focusing on public health.
“The UKHSA should move to defence,” he said, adding that Britain needed “a proper public health agency to deal with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and all the things that are affecting our health.”
Professor Brendan Wren, Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, warned: “There are still around 2000 cases of plague each year that are treatable with standard antibiotics. But there are multi-antibiotic-resistant strains emerging, and if the laboratory is working on such a strain, then treatment options may be limited.”
Many fear Vladimir Putin is covering up details about the suspected plague case
He said laboratories generally worked with plague to develop improved vaccines for areas where it remains endemic, adding: “If Yersinia pestis was weaponised, a vaccine for military personnel may be desirable.”
Professor Keith Neal, an expert in infectious disease at the University of Nottingham said: “This looks like an occupational health cock up. People make mistakes in labs and in my view this handler should have been vaccinated against the plague and have been given antibiotics as soon as she was exposed.”
Dr Simon Clarke, Associate Professor in Cellular Microbiology at the University of Reading, said reports that Ms Shipilova became infected after breaking a test tube remained unconfirmed.
He said: “It is not unheard of for pathogens to escape from labs, but an awful lot must have gone wrong for a lab worker to be infected by a broken test tube.”
He added: “Handling dangerous pathogens involves multiple layers of protection, strict procedures, safety cabinets, airflow systems and careful procedures carried out by well-trained staff. Lab-acquired infections are rare events, and a broken tube would not automatically lead to exposure or infection.”
Dr Zania Stamataki, Associate Professor of Viral Immunology at the University of Birmingham and academic lead for Containment Level 3 laboratories, said the mystery warranted a full explanation.
She said: “Those controls work, which is why laboratory-acquired infections with this organism are rare. They are not impossible, and this is why an incident warrants a full account of what happened. That account matters beyond Russia.”
The UK Health Security Agency said it was seeking further information on the case but reassured the public about possible spread. Chris Lewis, director of global health protection at the agency said: "The public health risk from plague to the wider UK population currently remains very low.”
President Donald Trump has said the US is looking “very strongly” at the case.
Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Tuesday that no plague cases had been detected among Shipilova’s contacts and extensive testing had found no microorganisms in her body linked to her work. It said no infectious illnesses had been reported among institute staff over the previous 10 days, while 60 per cent of those placed under observation had been released.
Plague is usually found in small mammals and their fleas. It is no longer found in the UK, but occurs in several countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Untreated, it can cause rapid death, but antibiotics can be effective if caught in time.
