Former CDC chief warns Russia may have engineered antibiotic-resistant plague strain
A former head of the U.S. CDC expressed concern that a Russian lab accident involving a 28-year-old worker could involve a modified plague bacterium.
In Irkutsk, a 28-year-old lab technician named Darya Shipilova died after allegedly breaking a sample tube that held live plague bacteria. Russian officials attribute her death to an unknown form of pneumonia, but the former CDC director, Robert Redfield, warned that the incident could involve a genetically modified Yersinia pestis strain designed to evade standard antibiotic treatment. He noted that routine plague exposures are usually treatable if antibiotics are administered promptly.
The outbreak led to the shutdown of at least five hospitals and the isolation of over 200 individuals. No conclusive evidence has yet confirmed that the bacterium was engineered, and Russian authorities deny any plague involvement. International experts have long cautioned that engineered pathogens pose a serious biosecurity risk.
Why it matters
Potential use of a drug-resistant plague strain raises global biosecurity and public-health concerns.
How this story developed
- Oct 2 Plague Technician Dies in Siberian Lab, Nearly 200 Quarantined
- Oct 6 Daria Shipilova, a young scientist at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, died on October 2 after reportedly dropping a test tube containing pneumonic plague, leading to lockdowns of several local hospitals.
- Oct 6 Russian health officials have opened a criminal investigation into possible sanitary violations.
- Oct 6 About 60 % of the roughly 200 people quarantined have been released, and none have shown plague symptoms.
- Oct 6 The World Health Organization confirmed it is conducting inquiries with Russian officials and assessed the regional risk as moderate to low.
- Oct 6 Central Asian countries introduced thermal imaging and health screening at their borders with Russia.
- Oct 7 The World Health Organization has requested additional details from Russian authorities about the cause of a laboratory worker’s death from severe pneumonia in Siberia.
- Oct 7 Trump said he expects to speak with Putin about the case.
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