A second death has been reported after a 'plague outbreak' in Russia's Irkutsk region, according to Russian media reports.
uncertain
death → report → reports
Panic broke out last week when a female laboratory technician died and hundreds of people she came into contact with were placed in quarantine.
asserted
she → break → quarantine
Darya Shipilova, 28, was said to be working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia when she was exposed to pneumonic plague.
asserted
she → say → plague
She died on October 2.
asserted
She → die → October
Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally broken a test tube holding live bacteria, according to the news outlet Lyudi Baikala.
uncertain
she → tell → outlet
Other countries have tightened border health controls despite Russia's insistence that the plague researcher died from 'unidentified pneumonia', rather than the suspected 'Black Death' bacterium.
asserted
researcher → tighten → pneumonia
Now, the Kremlin is scrambling to cover up the details as outlets are reporting a second person has died at Irkutsk's district hospital after reportedly contracting the plague.
uncertain
person → scramble → plague
Independent Russian outlet The Insider cited Russia's press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying the public should only trust updates coming from the official health agency.
'
asserted
public → cite → agency
One should rely on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor (the national public health agency) rather than listening to various rumors and speculation,' Peskov said.
asserted
Peskov → rely → rumors
Lab worker Darya Shipilova, 28, died in Siberia of pneumonic plague after reportedly breaking a test tube
She was reportedly working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia when she was exposed to pneumonic plague
However, reports have been disappearing, including one from Russia's Channel 5 broadcaster and one nationally distributed daily newspaper, Kommersant.
uncertain
reports → die → broadcaster
The Insider reports that on October 2, the federal television channel REN TV also deleted all five of its publications about the plague in the Irkutsk region.
asserted
channel → report → region
The administration of Baikalsk, a city in the Irkutsk region, published a Telegram post on October 3 urging residents not to travel to Shelekhov.
asserted
administration → publish → Shelekhov
'Due to unofficial information about a confirmed case of plague in a person in the city of Shelekhov, we ask you to limit visits to Shelekhov and nearby settlements until the circumstances surrounding this threat are clarified,' the Baykalsk city administration said in a post.
asserted
administration → confirm → post
It deleted the post two hours later, Lyudi Baikala reported.
asserted
Baikala → delete → post
Rospotrebnadzor has vehemently denied the existence of a plague outbreak in the region.
asserted
Rospotrebnadzor → deny → region
On October 4, the agency stated that Shipilova died of 'pneumonia of an unspecified type' and assured that 'the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region and the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable.'
However, according to exiled opposition website People of Baikal, doctors in the region are speaking openly about the plague.
uncertain
doctors → state → plague
Locals have reported seeing people in PPE, including suits and masks, while workers at Irkutsk's aluminium factories and nursery personnel are required to wear masks.
asserted
workers → report → masks
And online searches for the word 'plague' - 'chuma' in Russian - are up 5,000 per cent from this time last year, according to The Times.
uncertain
word → accord → Times
Up to five hospitals in the Irkutsk area are in 'epidemic' mode, according to reports, with hundreds of staff and patients barred from leaving.
uncertain
hundreds → accord → staff
City Clinical Hospitals No1, No3, and No10 and the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children's Hospital have been closed for a three-week quarantine, according to Lyudi Baikala.
uncertain
No1 → close → Baikala
A view of the Medical Assistance and Rescue Centre, an infectious diseases hospital, in the town of Shelekhov in the Irkutsk region
A worker in full protective gear is filmed by residents of Shelekhov in Russia's Irkutsk region
Health officials pictured in the Irkutsk region wearing hazmat suits during the plague response, with a mask mandate also put in place
Relatives of a woman giving birth at one of Irkutsk's maternity hospitals also reported to the outlet that it had imposed a quarantine.
Shipilova became unwell while on a field expedition with colleagues in Buryatia, beside Russia's eastern border with Mongolia.
She was admitted to hospital on September 29 and placed on a ventilator but died three days later in Shelekhov, a satellite city of Irkutsk.
asserted
She → film → Irkutsk
She came into contact with roughly 200 people, who are now being monitored over fears of an outbreak.
asserted
who → come → outbreak
It has come to light that Shipilova had personally worked with Yersinia pestis – the bacterium responsible for plague and the medieval Black Death – in laboratories at her workplace.
asserted
Shipilova → come → workplace
Immediately after Shipilova's death, Russia's chief state sanitary doctor Anna Popova personally flew to Irkutsk to control the response to a 'particularly dangerous infection' – yet she has not spoken publicly.
asserted
she → fly → infection
Governor Alexey Tsydenov from neighbouring Buryatia initially referred to Ms Shipilova as 'the woman who died from plague', before toning it down to say she 'may have died from plague'.
uncertain
she → neighbour → plague
Mikhail Favorov, a senior Russian epidemiologist, dismissed the broken test tube explanation, according to the Moscow Times.
uncertain
Favorov → dismiss → Times
Favorov said: 'It's laughable.
asserted
It → say → ?
Someone working at the Anti-Plague Institute in Irkutsk wears a protective anti-plague suit.
asserted
Someone → work → suit
'If you break a test tube, the likelihood of infection is actually very low.
asserted
likelihood → break → infection
In short, it doesn't matter to the general public – they'll believe the 'broken test tube' story.'
asserted
they → matter → story
He added: 'It's absolutely hair-raising.
asserted
It → add → ?
We will not be told what really happened.'
asserted
what → tell → ?
Regional authorities are implementing a 'comprehensive set of anti-epidemic measures', according to Maxim Modin, the mayor of the Shelekhovsky district in eastern Russia, near the Mongolian border.
uncertain
authorities → implement → border
The inpatient facility at the hospital where the lab technician was treated has been placed under quarantine, and several departments have stopped discharging or admitting patients, Modin added.
asserted
Modin → treat → patients
It has come to light that Shipilova had personally worked with Yersinia pestis – the bacterium responsible for plague
Pneumonic plague causes a severe lung infection, with symptoms including fever, shortness of breath and coughing up blood, which typically begin to show between three and seven days after contact.
Fatalities from pneumonic plague drop to around 17 per cent if treated with antibiotics within the first 24 hours of infection.
asserted
Fatalities → come → infection
However, the disease is almost always fatal if left untreated.
asserted
disease → leave → ?
Reports claim that drugs used to treat the disease are running out in the region, leaving terrified residents piling into pharmacies and medical facilities demanding supplies.
uncertain
drugs → claim → supplies
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Washington was monitoring reports of a plague infection, but that it was not a 'cause for alarm'.
asserted
it → say → alarm
'There's very limited travel between the US and Russia, obviously, but like anything else, something like that gets out, it could quickly spread,' Rubio told reporters before taking off on a visit to Iceland.
uncertain
Rubio → be → Iceland
'So we're watching and monitoring it closely.
asserted
we → watch → it
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
