Fatal infection with a plague strain in Irkutsk: officials and media delete reports about the death of a laboratory assistant and the mass isolation of hundreds of contacts

Fatal infection with a plague strain in Irkutsk: officials and media delete reports about the death of a laboratory assistant and the mass isolation of hundreds of contacts

The REN-TV Telegram channel has deleted all information about the 27-year-old woman who died of plague, Daria Shipilova.

She worked as a laboratory assistant at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, handled strains of the pathogen, and likely contracted the dangerous disease at work.

Almost 200 people had contact with Shipilova, and 189 of them were hospitalized for observation.

Some of those hospitalized had symptoms, but this does not mean they were infected with plague.

The administration of the Baikalskoye urban settlement also deleted its message stating that “due to unofficial information about the detection of a human case of plague in the city of Shelekhov, residents are asked to limit visits to Shelekhov and nearby settlements until the circumstances are clarified.”