The mother of a 28-year-old Russian laboratory worker who died after falling ill at a Siberian anti-plague institute has rejected reports that her daughter was infected when she allegedly shattered a test tube containing dangerous bacteria.
Lab technician Darya Shipilova died on October 2 after becoming unwell while working at the anti-plague research institute in Irkutsk.
Local officials initially linked her death to the plague, but those claims were later withdrawn.
The Kremlin has rejected the reports, saying instead that Darya died from “pneumonia of unknown aetiology [origin].”
Local media had claimed that Darya may have contracted the infection after breaking a test tube containing bacteria. Her home was subsequently disinfected several times by workers in protective equipment.
However, her mother, medical professional Svetlana Shipilova, has firmly disputed that explanation for her daughter’s death.
She said: “I don’t want to read nasty things about my child. I know the truth. I have had to fend off foolish acquaintances who actually believed all of it.”
“The sensible ones, of course, did not believe it. Not even every medical professional understands that breaking the test tube is impossible, even if you threw it against a wall.”
“Only an amateur would say something like that. Even in theory, it is impossible to spill or break it. The tubes are protected so heavily.”
Panic spread last week after reports claimed that Darya Shipilova, 28, had broken a test tube containing live bacteria while working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia
Teams of workers have disinfected Darya’s home since her death
Svetlana also said that she and other relatives had been placed in quarantine, leaving them unable to bury Darya. “Who is going to bury her if we are sitting here imprisoned?” she said.
Remembering her daughter, she said: “She was such a hard worker. A pure, truly pure soul. It was difficult for her supervisor, because she knew Dasha and understood exactly why she had hired her.”
“It is extremely difficult to get a position at the [Irkutsk] Anti-Plague Institute.”
“She had seen Dasha working during her internship and realised that she was genuinely decent — a true workaholic.”
Local media reported that three vehicles arrived outside Shipilova’s two-storey apartment building in Irkutsk at around 10pm on the night Darya died.
Workers dressed in orange protective suits and gas masks brought containers with them before treating both entrances to the building with a strong-smelling chemical.
One resident said the fumes were so harsh that neighbours had to open their doors because they were struggling to breathe.
The decontamination teams had been dispatched by Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor.
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According to residents, the workers said: “Some girl died, a deadly dangerous virus.” The building has since undergone disinfection twice more.
Yesterday reports of a second unconfirmed case of plague in Siberia struck, causing the World Health Organisation (WHO) to demand answers from Russia.
But Kremlin continued to stonewall the international body, claiming: ‘No case of this dangerous disease has been recorded in the city of Irkutsk.’
The plague, the rare bacterial infection infamously known for killing tens of millions in 14th-century Europe, never went away but is now easily treated with antibiotics.
Since the Nineties, most human cases have been reported in Africa, especially Congo and Madagascar, according to WHO.
There are an average of about seven human cases per year in the US, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, mostly in rural areas of the American West.
‘People think the plague is gone, it was something that occurred 500 years ago. It’s not. It’s here amongst us,’ said Simon Clarke of the University of Reading.
‘Unless you get rid of those wild animals, which of course is not possible, then you’re not going to get rid of the bacteria.’
People in Siberia have been dying of plague for at least 5,500 years. The earliest evidence of a form of the disease was found in teeth from ancient hunter-gatherers north of the region’s Lake Baikal.
Pneumonic plague and the more well-known bubonic plague – also called the Black Death – are caused by the same bacteria, called Yersinia pestis.
The bacteria spread naturally among rodents like prairie dogs and rats. Fleas that jump from infected animals and bite people can spread the disease.
The bubonic plague is the most common form of the infection. It causes painfully swollen lymph nodes that are most commonly found in the groin, armpit and neck, called buboes. Other symptoms include sudden high fever and chills, headaches, and pain in the abdomen, legs and arms, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
There are two other forms of the plague: pneumonic plague, which can be caused by inhaling the bacteria, infects the lungs, while septicemic plague is an infection in the bloodstream. Both are fatal if not treated early, according to WHO.
Bubonic plague will often develop into the other two forms of plague if untreated.
Other than bites from infected fleas, people can also get plague by touching infected bodily fluids, so health experts recommend taking extra care when handling dead or sick animals.
The plague can also spread through the respiratory droplets of someone who has pneumonic plague.
‘If you cough, you can spread it to another person, but that doesn’t travel very far,’ said Dr Glenn Wortmann, MedStar Washington Hospital Centre. ‘So you really need to be in face-to-face contact with that person to get pneumonic plague.’
That’s why ‘the chance of this spreading widely in Russia and then extending here to the US will not happen,’ he said.
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