A pneumonic plague outbreak is underway at the BSL-3 lab in Siberia’s Irkutsk region, about 3,231 miles east of Moscow.
Almost 200 people remain hospitalized with suspected plague infection.
This isn’t COVID. The pneumonic plague is serious: “This form of the infection evolves rapidly, spreads more easily from person to person, and is far more deadly, killing 100% of those who do not receive the appropriate antibiotics soon after exposure.”
One woman has died, according to The Moscow Times:
The woman was identified as Daria Sh., a 27- or 28-year-old employee of the Irkutsk anti-plague institute, by the exiled news outlet Lyudi Baikala (People of Baikal) and pro-Kremlin broadcaster REN TV.
She reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples for testing.
She was hospitalized Tuesday with symptoms of severe pneumonia in Shelekhov, a town near the regional capital of Irkutsk. She was placed on a ventilator and died Thursday, according to the reports.
The Shelekhov district hospital has been quarantined.
The Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East contains Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) operations.
BSL-3 specializes in controlling and studying dangerous bacterial and viral infections, including the plague.
Pneumonic plague is not the same as bubonic plague.
Pneumonic plague is the most dangerous because it can be transmitted between people through airborne respiratory droplets.
The pneumonic plague is no joke. It has nothing on COVID [emphasis mine):
[H]owever, a rapid course and high lethality are indicative of pneumonic plague.
Secondary plague pneumonia results from haematogenous spread of Y. pestis to the lungs, usually due to untreated or advanced infection of an initial bubonic or septicaemic form. A patient has usually been acutely ill for several days prior to lung invasion. Many patients die before they develop a well-advanced pneumonia. Those who do not die may be so sick that their cough reflex lacks the strength to produce finely aerosolized droplets. Consequently, during the early stages of disease, the risk of transmission is high.
Primary pneumonic plague is a rare but often fatal form of Y. pestis infection that results from direct inhalation of bacteria and is potentially transmissible from person-to-person and has the potential for propagating epidemics. The onset of pneumonic plague is most often sudden (with chills, fever, headache, body pains, weakness, dizziness, and chest discomfort) (Figure 33.3). Sputum is mucoid at first, rapidly develops blood specks, and then becomes uniformly pink or bright red and foamy. Tachypnoea and dyspnoea are present on the second day of illness, but pleuritic chest pain is not. Signs of consolidation are rare, and rales may be absent.
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