Story summary
A 28-year-old lab technician named Darya Shipilova died in Siberia after breaking a test tube containing pneumonic plague bacteria at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. The incident occurred on September 29, and she was placed on a ventilator but died two days later. As many as 200 people who had contact with Shipilova were put under quarantine to prevent potential spread of the disease. Russian health authorities have implemented strict measures including mask mandates in Irkutsk and quarantining hospitals and medical facilities.
The outbreak has raised concerns about a possible cover-up by the Russian government, with local officials remaining vague about the specific infection involved. The U.S. State Department is monitoring the situation closely, urging Russia to provide accurate information promptly. Health experts emphasize that pneumonic plague can be treated effectively if antibiotics are administered early. Despite these measures, global health organizations remain vigilant and are assessing potential risks for international transmission.
Written for “Plague Outbreak in Siberia” on 2026-10-11,
grounded in this article and the 110 other(s) covering the same event.
Plague is an ancient scourge, and fear of the plague is buried deep in our unconscious.
asserted
fear → bury → unconscious
The Black Death caused over 100 million deaths in the 14th century, six centuries before the advent of antibiotics.
asserted
Death → cause → antibiotics
On top of severe illness and death, these devastating pandemics have caused worldwide fear and panic.
asserted
pandemics → cause → fear
Flash forward six years from the origins of COVID, and once again we learn of a mysterious pneumonia death of a scientist, this time a laboratory worker, Darya Shipilova, who was working in a lab in Siberia that has been studying dangerous pathogens, including the plague.
asserted
that → flash → plague
The Russians deny it.
asserted
Russians → deny → it
Has it been bioengineered to make it more resistant to antibiotics and more easily transmissible through the air?
asserted
it → bioengineere → air
The Russian health authorities deny it.
asserted
authorities → deny → it
Have hundreds of patients been isolated and several hospitals been shut down out of an abundance of caution, as the health authorities there would have you believe, or is this something far worse, as it was during the initial Wuhan lockdown for COVID?
asserted
it → isolate → COVID
Russia is now saying that it is winding down precautionary measures, but why were these extensive measures necessary in the first place?
asserted
measures → say → place
We may never have the answers to any of these questions, but unfortunately, they not only bring back bad memories of COVID, but they also unmask a continuing lack of a comprehensive global health surveillance network to protect us.
uncertain
they → have → us
The treatment for these scourges, both ancient and modern, for both fear and the actual disease, as I write in my new book, "The Angels Among Us," is messengers from God to reassure us, treat us, and guide us through, just as Dr. Stephen Kornfeld recently did on the hantavirus ship, the MV Hondius, when another scary disease, the Andes strain of hantavirus, emerged.
asserted
disease → write → hantavirus
In fact, fear of an unknown pathogen sparking a global pandemic was the motivation for an international call for a global network of scientists to protect us more than two decades ago.
asserted
network → spark → us
Unfortunately, that so-called network failed miserably with COVID, as China’s smokescreen was famously amplified by the WHO’s declaration in January 2020 that this was only a regional problem.
asserted
this → call → January
COVID whistleblower ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who died in a Wuhan hospital from COVID in February 2020 after a middle-of-the-night visit from the police to shut him down, is buried deep in the public consciousness.
asserted
who → die → consciousness
So, too, are all our friends and patients who died unceremoniously in the first several months of the pandemic.
asserted
who → die → pandemic
One who didn’t die, as described in "The Angels Among Us," was Evie Rodriguez, who was saved not by medicines but by prayer.
asserted
who → die → prayer
She was in the ICU at UC Davis, not responding to steroids or a new antiviral treatment (remdesivir), but rather than be overcome by fear, she turned to prayer and was visited by angels sent to her by her father, Pastor Sam Rodriguez.
asserted
she → respond → father
This gave her the strength she needed to fight off the angel of death.
asserted
she → give → death
"I am fully awake, and a dark spirit with an open mouth comes into the room, and I can feel that it has come for me.
asserted
it → come → me
I feel it is the spirit of death.
asserted
it → feel → death
I become angry and demand it to leave.
asserted
I → become → it
‘What are you doing here?’ I yell.
asserted
I → do → What
And it goes away.
asserted
it → go → ?
The difference between 2020 and 2026 may be that the pathogen now, if it is plague, is potentially not very contagious, antibiotics can treat it, and there is already a vaccine that can be used against it, presuming it hasn’t been altered.
uncertain
it → treat → it
So the risk beyond that initial case would appear to be very, very small.
asserted
risk → appear → case
But the fear and the global vulnerability remain.
asserted
fear → remain → ?
Laboratory accidents occur all the time.
asserted
accidents → occur → ?
And we are not prepared for them, especially when it comes to dangerous pathogens from dangerous places.
asserted
it → come → places
The Aporia
