Everything We Know And Don’t Know About The Possible Plague Death At The Anti-Plague Institute

You might have heard by now of the scientist in Russia, 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, who died on Oct. 2 of an unknown illness. Shipilova worked in a lab at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, an institution founded in the 1930s to control and prevent—you guessed it—plagues. Russian health authorities have since quarantined the hospital where Shipilova died, along with staff at the institute and anyone else who came in contact with her. These are the facts. And then there are the murkier details, as well as the rumors. Shipilova was diagnosed with a pneumonia of unknown origin, per Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian public health agency. A governor of a neighboring republic said Shipilova died "possibly from the plague" and a Russian journalist wrote on his Telegram that Shipilova had broken a test tube before she got sick, reported Science. There are reports of a second worker at the institute who contracted pneumonia, per the AP, and reports that several hospitals have been placed under quarantine, per NPR. Although the Russian government announced that "test results showed no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts," the head of Rospotrebnadzor traveled to Irkutsk to meet with the regional anti-epidemic commission, CNN reported. The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, meanwhile, has not responded to journalists' questions. Many of this journalist's questions—such as "Is there a plague happening in Russia?" and "Should I be freaking out?"—don't have clear answers. But before your mind fills with images of eerily avian plague doctors, these are the questions we can answer, at least for now.

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