Mum of dead lab worker insists plague didn’t escape from test tube
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The mother of a Russian researcher who died in a suspected plague leak has dismissed reports her daughter was infected by a smashed test tube.
Russian media this week identified the dead researcher who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, who was reportedly hospitalised on September 29.
Lab workers at the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. This undated photo was released in 2019. Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute of Siberia and Far East
She is believed to have died at a hospital in Shelekhov, a town about 20km south-west of Irkutsk, late last week.
Svetlana Shipilova, who’s also a medical professional, told the Russian outlet Glubina she believes her daughter’s death wasn’t through a cracked test tube, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
“I know the truth,” she said.
“I’m having to fend off stupid acquaintances who believed all this – the clever ones didn’t believe it, of course.”
Svetlana says the test tubes are designed so well they remain intact from any mishap.
A woman with her child walks past the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, Russia, on Wednesday, October7. AP Photo
“Even hypothetically, you simply can’t spill what’s inside or break the tube – they’re that well protected.”
She also told reporters: “They simply let my daughter die.”
Russia’s public health agency, Rospotrebnadzor, does not link the case to pneumonic plague.
It maintains the lab worker had contracted pneumonia of “unknown” origin and that “extensive” testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). AP
World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Russian authorities had indicated that no case of plague had recently been reported in the Irkutsk region, and that they had placed about 200 contacts in quarantine.
WHO officials said they have requested more information from the Russian government about the lab leak.
US President Donald Trump said he would discuss the laboratory case during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the Kremlin leader’s 74th birthday.
But a Kremlin spokesman said there had been no formal plans for the phone call between the two leaders.
It remains unclear if Trump and Putin will discuss the lab leak.
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