Clinical Testing and Diagnosis for Plague | CDCA 28-year-old technician at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute is dead, nearly 200 people are under medical observation, and five hospitals in the region have been reportedly slammed shut for quarantine, while the Kremlin’s health agency insists this is nothing but “pneumonia of unknown origin.”The Moscow Times identified the dead woman as Darya Shipilova, a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East.She was hospitalized in Shelekhov on September 29 with severe pneumonia, placed on a ventilator, and died on October 1, overnight into October 2, by some accounts.The account that set off the alarm: Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally broken a test tube of live Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, while handling samples on September 25. That is four days before she was admitted, DW reported.Meduza, citing regional media, reported both that version and a competing claim that she fell ill after a trip. Neither has been officially confirmed.Alexei Tsydenov, head of neighboring Buryatia, went further than Irkutsk officials were willing to go. He publicly said the woman had died of plague, then edited the post to say she “may have” died of it.Irkutsk’s own governor, Igor Kobzev, would only call it a “particularly dangerous infection” and convene an emergency anti-epidemic commission.On October 4, Russia’s consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor denied she died of plague at all. The official line, reported by bne IntelliNews and CNN: “pneumonia of unknown etiology.”A commission claimed no accident involving pathogenic microorganisms had occurred at the institute. Contacts, officials said, were testing negative and showed no symptoms.According to Charter97’s report citing the regional outlet People of Baikal, three Irkutsk city hospitals, Hospitals No. 1, No. 3, and No. 10, along with the Ivanomatreninskaya Children’s Hospital and a maternity hospital were reportedly placed under quarantine.Those reports have not been independently confirmed by Russia’s federal health authorities, and officials have offered conflicting accounts of what exactly killed Shipilova.Meanwhile, workers at the massive Irkutsk Aluminum Plant in Shelekhov have been ordered to wear masks as a precaution.CNN reported that plant director Artem Fominikh acknowledged that “many rumors and conflicting reports” were circulating and confirmed the mask requirement.At least 197 people who may have crossed paths with Shipilova were identified. About 189 of them were hospitalized for observation, 114 in one facility, 63 in another, 12 at the anti-plague institute itself, according to figures carried by The Moscow Times, REN TV, and bne IntelliNews. As of the latest official statements, no secondary cases have been confirmed.Pneumonic plague is the form that matters. It is the only form that spreads person to person, through respiratory droplets. The CDC says the incubation period after inhalation can be as short as one day.The World Health Organization puts the usual window at one to seven days. Untreated, it is frequently fatal, and the clock for antibiotics is measured in hours, not days. A September 25 broken vial and a September 29 collapse sit squarely inside that window.Shelekhov is not a village. It is an industrial town built around the Irkutsk Aluminium Plant, a Rusal facility with more than 2,000 workers. ]Plant director Artyom Fominykh ordered a mask protocol and told employees, in a Telegram post reported by bne IntelliNews and The Moscow Times: “God protects the cautious.” He urged anyone with symptoms to get medical help immediately — while admitting the town was awash in contradictory reports.A nearby town administration briefly told residents to avoid Shelekhov, then deleted the post. Public events in Irkutsk were canceled.The post Possible Plague Crisis in Siberia: Five Hospitals Placed Under Quarantine After Lab Tech Dies Following Test Tube Accident Containing Plague Bacteria appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.