Hundreds of People and Five Hospitals Under Quarantine in Siberia Amid Suspected Pneumonic Plague Outbreak

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U.S. officials are closely monitoring a suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Russia, where nearly 200 people have been placed into quarantine following a lab leak in Siberia.

Darya Shipilova, 28, a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, reportedly broke a test tube containing the deadly pathogen while collecting samples.

After being exposed to the disease, Shipilova reportedly went on a field expedition with colleagues in Buryatia, a Republic in the eastern region of Russia that borders Mongolia.

She became sick while on that expedition and was transferred to Shelekhov Hospital on September 29. Before being placed on a ventilator, Shipilova reportedly told medical staff she had accidentally broken a test tube holding live bacteria. She died overnight between October 1 and 2.

Pneumonic plague is said to have a 100 percent death rate unless the patient is treated with antibiotics within 24 hours.

Now, hundreds of people who had contact with Shipilova are under strict medical observation and five hospitals in the Irkutsk region have closed for a three-week quarantine.

The medical facilities closed down include “Irkutsk Hospitals No. 1, No.3, No.10, Ivano-Matreninskaya Children’s Hospital, and an unnamed maternity hospital,” according to science journalist and author Annie Jacobsen on X.

Additionally, multiple local industries have reportedly implemented mask mandates.

Jacobsen’s latest book, “Biological War: A Scenario,” published in July, centers on a fictional lab accident in Siberia that releases an engineered form of pneumonic plague.

On Monday, Kazakhstan reportedly introduced quarantine controls at border crossing points with Russia to minimize the pneumonic plague threat.

Russian health agency Rospotrebnadzor reported that Shipilova died of severe pneumonia of unknown origin and that testing detected no microorganisms linked to her work. However, because the lab specializes in plague research, many suspect that Shipilova died of pneumonic plague.

A regional official initially reported her death was linked to the plague before editing his statement.

Alexey Tsydenov, head of the Republic of Buryatia, said in a statement that Shipilova had died of plague, but later edited his post to say she “may have” been infected with the disease.

Meanwhile, Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev wrote on social media that an anti-epidemic commission had met to address a “suspected case of a particularly dangerous infection,” and urged residents to remain calm.

While his public statement did not provide any details about the case, Kobzev stated that all of the person’s close contacts remain asymptomatic and have tested negative.

Pneumonic plague is one of three variants caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It differs from flea-borne bubonic and septicemic plagues because it attacks the lungs directly and can easily spread from person to person through airborne respiratory droplets.

Last year, Israeli scientists from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) developed an mRNA-based “vaccine” against pneumonic plague.

The shot is delivered via lipid nanoparticles like the COVID-19 injections, and is said to demonstrate “a 100 percent protection rate in animal models.”

The  White House and U.S. State Department are closely monitoring the situation, with officials meeting at the White House Monday morning to discuss the pneumonic plague accident.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that despite there being “very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia,” if “something like that gets out, it could quickly spread.”

Rubio told reporters that the United States government is “watching and monitoring it closely,” and added, “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause just to keep an eye on it and we’re doing that.”