Suspected Plague Outbreak in Siberia

[willrod1989]

I apologize that I haven't been keeping up with the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. However, something major is happening in Siberia that is even more urgent. A researcher at a laboratory in Irkutsk has apparently died after a lab accident involving plague. The Russian government said it was caused by pneumonia of unknown origin. What is extremely concerning to me is that the Russian government has placed 200 people in quarantine and has locked down 4 to 5 hospitals. They have also canceled public events in Irkutsk, while downplaying the significance of this event. It must be noted that Russia has long been suspected to have a biological weapons program, specifically focused on pneumonic plague. This therefore warrants close monitoring.

Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection

 

[willrod1989]

BREAKING: 5 hospitals have been closed for quarantines in Siberia due to a possible plague outbreak. The 28-year-old lab technician Darya Shipilova, died yesterday after breaking a test tube with live Yersinia pestis the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute on September 25th while handling samples. A mask mandate has now been introduced at the huge aluminum plant in Irkutsk. Some U.S. politicians are now calling for commercial air travel to and from Russia to be stopped until the situation is clarified. This first symptoms of pneumonic plague typically start about 4 to 7 days after exposure. 200 people are under observation.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2106778297484939750

 

[DEFCON Warning System]

Another lab leak in a country that probably doesn't have the best safety protocols. What a shock.

 

[willrod1989]

This one has me very concerned- perhaps more than what happened in Wuhan. Russia has long been suspected to be engaging in bioweapons research specifically targeting plague. Furthermore, the case-fatality ratio with pneumonic plague is close to 100% if left untreated. One of the big unknowns at this time is whether or not this suspected strain of plague is genetically modified to be either more transmissible, resistant to treatment, or both.

 

[alphaecho]

 

[william]

A FORMER WHITE HOUSE BIOSECURITY OFFICIAL IS NOW RAISING A MUCH MORE SERIOUS POSSIBILITY ABOUT THE IRKUTSK LAB CASE.

Dr. Ashish Jha @ashishkjha , the former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator and a physician and biosecurity expert, says he is concerned that the unexplained death of a 28-year-old employee at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute could represent the kind of scenario biosecurity officials have long feared: an accidental release involving research connected to a biological-weapons program.

Jha is explicitly raising the possibility, not claiming it has been proven. His concern rests partly on the broader intelligence picture. The United States has for years assessed that Russia maintains an offensive biological-weapons program and has failed to provide sufficient transparency over activities inherited from the Soviet program.Jha also points to reports of FSB involvement in the response around Irkutsk, including security personnel accompanying ambulances transporting exposed contacts.“If accurate, that’s not the posture of a routine natural outbreak, even a normal lab accident,” he writes.

Jha argues that the principal risk posed by clandestine biological-weapons programs may therefore not be deliberate use, but an accident inside a system operating with little outside scrutiny.

His intervention comes as the White House says it is now monitoring the suspected plague case and “assessing options.” For now, the central facts remain unresolved: what pathogen, if any, killed Shipilova; whether a laboratory exposure occurred; and why the response expanded to extensive contact monitoring and hospital restrictions despite Moscow’s categorical denial of a plague-related accident.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2106962898467594354

 

[william]

The director of Russia’s Irkutsk anti-plague institute was in CHINA just weeks ago for a “cross-border infectious disease” exercise that simulated responses to imported PLAGUE and “Disease X.”

Chinese government reporting names director Sergey Balakhonov as attending and speaking at the August 24–27 exercise in Fuyuan. The Chinese exercise involved the following:

• A scenario involving plague arriving from abroad.

• A hypothetical emerging tick-borne disease.

• Chinese and Russian experts rehearsing outbreak notifications, joint risk assessments, and coordinated control measures.

• Nineteen emergency teams, more than 300 personnel, and over 40 emergency vehicles.

And the institute’s Chinese partnerships go back years.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2107109271712485438

 

[Librarylady]

I'm already getting November 2019 deja vu....
I can easily see he not reporting the incident to avoid getting in trouble but i don't see her being stupid enough to skip.treatment. I'd think that she started an oral course of cipro or doxy on her own and ended up in the hospital when that didn't work. If that's what happened that means this is a man-made antibiotic-resistant strain. Which explains the FSB response.

 

[william]

Sec. Marco Rubio confirms unknown Plague pathogen death at Russian Lab. “We’re watching and monitoring it closely.”Reports say a lab technician was infected and died. Localized quarantine is already up in the region. U.S. health and security agencies are tracking the risk of a containment failure.Rubio: “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on. And we’re doing that.”

Don't worry, be happy!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2107121172013830279

https://twitter.com/x/status/2106338623477960825