CBS: A Scandal Is Brewing In Russia Over A Mysterious Outbreak Of The Plague
- 6.10.2026, 10:19
- 2,894
The authorities are trying to sweep the situation under the rug.
The Russian government continues to downplay concerns raised by media reports that a female scientist in Siberia may have died as a result of a plague infection following a laboratory accident.
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov emphasized that the Federal Service for Surveillance in the Sphere of Public Health, known as Rospotrebnadzor, is “the relevant agency with expertise in this field,” and urged Russians to “pay attention to official information” from its “highly qualified specialists,” according to CBS News.
The deceased researcher was identified by Russian media as 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute—more than 4,000 kilometers east of Moscow. Initial reports stated that in late September, she accidentally broke a test tube containing plague bacteria, developed severe pneumonia, and ultimately died from the illness.
The World Health Organization stated that she died of severe pneumonia on the night of October 2.
Plague in Irkutsk—what details are known
The plague bacterium mentioned in the reports is Yersinia pestis, the very same bacterium that caused the “Black Death,” which swept through Europe in the mid-1300s and claimed, by some estimates, between 25 and 50 million lives.
This pandemic, often referred to as the bubonic plague, was transmitted by fleas living on rodents and other animals in close proximity to humans—under the same unsanitary conditions.
Left untreated, this pathogen can cause swelling, fever, and death.
According to Russian media, Shipilova died of pneumonic plague, which is caused by the same bacterium but affects the lungs and causes fever and a cough that can become bloody. Pneumonic plague, unlike bubonic plague, can be transmitted from person to person and can also be fatal.
The head of the eastern Russian Republic of Buryatia Alexey Tsydenov initially stated that Shipilova had died of the plague in a message on the state-run messaging app MAX. He later edited the post, adding the word “possibly,” according to the article.
He was not the only official who quickly “backtracked”
Local officials initially warned people not to visit the town of Shelekhov, where the scientist was hospitalized and subsequently died, citing “unofficial information” about a human case of the plague.
The post was deleted in less than two hours. Since then, Russia’s Rospotrebnadzor has stated that it carried out “anti-epidemic measures,” which included testing nearly 200 people who had been in contact with Shipilova.
The agency reported that some people tested positive for the common cold or COVID, but no pathogens causing dangerous infections were detected. They also stated that there had been no accident at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, and the cause of the scientist’s death was cited as “pneumonia of unknown origin,” according to media reports.
A WHO spokesperson stated that, based on available unofficial information, the health risk to the general public appears to be low.
The U.S. confirms the incident
Speaking to reporters, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that reports of a suspected case of plague in Russia are not a cause for alarm, but “a cause for attention.”
“We obviously know what we know from what the Russian side has reported. It appears that a lab worker became infected, and there are concerns that this, you know, could have spread,” he noted.
But Rubio also added that, given the “very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia,” he does not believe this is “a cause for alarm, but a cause for attention and a reason to simply monitor the situation—which is what we’re doing.”
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