SHE is the baby-faced scientist blamed for potentially unleashing the deadly pneumonic plague.
Russian authorities claim laboratory assistant Daria Shipilova allowed the infection to escape after dropping a test tube during research into the deadly disease. But now pals have hinted at a cover-up.
The Kremlin insists Daria died from an ‘unidentified pneumonia’ rather than the Black Death version.
As world leaders anxiously wait to see if the infection will make its way across the globe the Russian blame game has begun – with the young scientist in the firing line.
Friends have poured scorn on the idea 28-year-old Daria was responsible for a lab accident and it’s since emerged she was part of a research mission to Mongolia where she studied plague-infested squirrels.
Friends say that Daria would have been covered top to toe in protective gear at the Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia, making it almost impossible for her to catch the disease there. One even claimed the test tubes are made of unbreakable plastic.
One university classmate, Valentina, who once worked at the lab, said: “We are all in shock, especially over the accusations that Daria broke a test tube and kept quiet.
“You don’t understand just how prestigious it is working at the institute.
“Daria was very intelligent if they accepted her into the laboratory – and she was responsible. The institute is excellent and they follow the rules strictly.
“I personally only undertook practical training there and had a different level of clearance — in the safe zone.
“But even we trainees in the safe zone were given mandatory plague vaccinations.
“Everything was very strict, all according to the rules for working with pathogenicity group one. In our zone there weren’t even any glass test tubes — only plastic. So all these accusations against Daria are simply shocking to us.”
Daria is said to have worked closely with a second employee at the lab who, mysteriously, has shown no sign of illness – adding weight to the theory she was infected in the field.
Daria, who graduated in 2022 after six years of study at Irkutsk State Medical University, died three days after being hooked up to a hospital ventilator after falling sick at work.
Official Russian state-run media claim she broke a test tube on September 25 allowing the disease to break free. She was admitted to a hospital in Siberia, which is now on lockdown, and died on October 2.
Around 200 people Daria came into contact with have been heavily quarantined while 60 institute staff have been told to stay home and five hospitals are said to be under guard.
Videos have also circulated on Russian social media of scientists walking around in protective gear in Shelekhov, a satellite town 12 miles away from Irkutsk.
More than 2,000 at the Irkutsk Aluminium Smelter works in the town have been ordered to wear masks amid fears the airborne virus will spread.
Terrified local residents are said to be scrambling for antibiotics which slash the chance of certain death to 17percent.
Within hours of Daria’s death, the country’s chief doctor Anna Popova rushed to the state for an emergency meeting with the local governor.
The world now holds its breath to see if the plague will spread – although the sheer remoteness of Siberia lies in favour of containment.
Daria’s friends have stopped short of accusing Russia of staging a cover-up akin to that of China during the covid outbreak – but it’s rare that anyone opposes Vladimir Putin’s state for fear of imprisonment.
Chinese officials claimed covid, which killed around 232,000 Brits, came from a wet market in Wuhan but many now believe it most likely originated from a leak in a nearby laboratory where scientists studied bats.
According to Daria’s former classmates and colleagues, security at the research centre where she works is so tight that employees wear full hazmat suits and access to labs looking at pathogens are restricted.
One said: “Those workers even had a completely separate entrance and did not cross paths with us; beyond the safe zone everyone wears full protective equipment – a special suit and mask.
“Personal belongings and phones are not allowed.
“I don’t know what would have to happen for infection to even be possible — a micro-tear in a glove combined with a breach of the rules, perhaps bringing a hand close to the face? I don’t know, it seems unlikely.
“And it would be even more unlikely for her to remain silent for so long, knowing that every second without antibiotics worsens the condition.
“It would not have been in her interests to hide it. But the death of an undiagnosed patient who happened to work at an anti-plague institute — that creates fertile ground for all sorts of ‘theories’.”
It’s not known exactly what Daria’s duties were in the days before she became sick but according to Russia’s REN TV, she was researching how the body’s immune system responds to the plague.
She helped produce a Government paper on anti-plague drugs presented at the All-Russian Congress on Infectious Diseases in Moscow.
According to Ostorozhno media, which covers stories downplayed by state-backed outlets, Daria also took part in dry-runs of outbreak emergencies as part of an international team.
Initial reports said the researcher was admitted to hospital with pneumonic plague after returning from Thailand – a seven-hour flight from Irkutsk.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/17105794/is-this-the-true-source-of-russian-plague-outbreak/
