All about the Russian anti-plague research center in Siberia from where an unknown and dangerous infection got leaked

A laboratory technician in a Russian anti-plague lab died last week, creating a panic across the world. Initial reports dubbed the infection as pneumonia of “unknown” origin while CNN called it 'dangerous'. The incident happened at at the Anti-Plague Research Institute situated in Shelekhov near Irkutsk in Russia's Siberian region.

The lab worker reportedly got infected after a test tube with live bacteria got damaged. The 28-year-old woman was later identified by local media as Daria Shipilova. She was reportedly shifted to a hospital after several days later and was put on ventilator. She died on October 2. The test tube reportedly had Yersinia pestis bacteria. Russian authorites, however, not confirmed that if she died from the plague infection.

Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s federal body responsible for infectious disease oversight, said that the staff member received a diagnosis of “pneumonia of unknown aetiology”, indicating an unidentified origin. However, it maintained that the situation in the region is stable. Despite official reassurances, the fatality has sparked anxieties surrounding a potential instance of pneumonic plague.


Pneumonic plague is one of three variants of plague triggered by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Contrary to alternative strains usually transmitted via interaction with tainted fleas, fauna, or contaminated tissues, pneumonic plague targets the respiratory system and is capable of transmitting between humans via airborne respiratory droplets.

Meanwhile, after the incident, additional safety steps have been established across the vicinity of Shelekhov. CNN additionally noted that unverified accounts from the independent local publication Liudi Baikala suggested nearly 200 individuals faced monitoring procedures at the Shelekhov medical facility where the lab worker received treatment.

What we know about the Russian anti-plague research center

The institute was founded on June 1, 1934, as a scientific and operational centre for plague control in the former Soviet Union. A year later, it expanded its work to other particularly dangerous infectious diseases, including cholera, brucellosis, tularemia, anthrax and arboviral infections.

Alexey Mikhailovich Skorodumov, the institute's founder and first director, had previously participated in efforts to control plague outbreaks in Transbaikalia, Mongolia and China.

According to the institute's website, it is now a multidisciplinary scientific research and anti-epidemic institution. Working with regional departments, Centres for Hygiene and Epidemiology and anti-plague stations under Rospotrebnadzor, it provides epidemiological surveillance and disease-control measures for particularly dangerous bacterial and viral infections across Russia's Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts.

The institute says it has 95 scientific employees, including 13 Doctors and 40 Candidates of Medical and Biological Sciences.