5 hospitals have been closed for quarantines in Siberia due to a possible plague outbreak.

[u/Prepper-Pup]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/10/reports-of-a-lethal-virus-outbreak-in-russia-follow-the-death-of-a-researcher/

[u/Prepper-Pup]

Reports out of the Irkutsk region of Russia reveal a potential public health crisis developing in the area, after a lab accident released a “particularly dangerous infection” to a researcher, who later passed away.

Twenty-eight-year-old Darya Shipilovia, a lab technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, died two days after she was hospitalized, following exposure to a “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” according to Rospotrebnadzor, a federal agency that oversees health and safety. The pathogen in question has been said to be the deadly but treatable pneumonic plague.

According to several outlets, hospitals are under quarantine, with the number of shutdowns ranging from three to five. Reports from independent news sources such as The Moscow Times say that nearly 200 workers have been placed under observation.

-
For those unaware, this is different from the "Black Death" type, which is bubonic plague. Pneumonic plague is spread via respiratory droplets.

*Edit- the Black Death did include Pneumonic plague, as other commenters have noted.

Pneumonic plague has a near 100% CFR (Case Fatality Rate), but is easily treated with antibiotics as long as it's done so early. The R0 (r-naught) of the bacteria varies from various studies around 1.3 up to 3.5. This is a general area of expertise of mine- Disaster Preparedness with a sub-set in Pandemics & Radiological Emergencies.

Within one day, we've gone from general reports that someone died due to being infected with this pathogen, to multiple hospitals being quarantined. Nobody should panic or buy all the TP rolls, but it's worth monitoring as there's a LOT we don't know, as official Russian News channels are denying anything is abnormally amiss.

*Edit: As per multiple users, now it's up to 6 hospitals. Worth watching.

[u/IAMA_Drunk_Armadillo → u/Prepper-Pup]

Yeah I wasn't particularly worried yesterday but the new reports are somewhat concerning. I hope it's garden variety pneumonic plague but the potential it's a genetically modified biological warfare varient is not zero which again is somewhat concerning

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/IAMA_Drunk_Armadillo]

Exactly. It could just be an overly-cautious gov't from someone who got infected and brought it back. Or it could be much worse- we'll just have to wait and see. As you said, the speed at which this news is moving is a bit unnerving.

[u/Gloomheart → u/Prepper-Pup]

Russia has never struck me as "overly cautious," and id argue every time we have heard about a disaster from them it tends to be once it can no longer be ignored by the international community.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Soviet_cover-ups

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/Gloomheart]

Agreed.

[u/ResponsiblePumpkin60 → u/Gloomheart]

The fact they are denying it only makes it more plausible

[u/Kingman9K → u/Gloomheart]

to play devil's advocate, you're not going to hear about the ones that ARE successfully covered up

[u/pivovy → u/Prepper-Pup]

Someone said on CNN that plague is endemic to that region of Siberia/Mongolia, and it pops up from time to time and is taken care of, and that's why they had the institute there.

[u/CalmBeneathCastles → u/pivovy]

Yersinia pestis is endemic to northern AZ and it pops up from time to time and is taken care of. It's the bubonic variety, tho.

[u/KnuteViking → u/CalmBeneathCastles]

It's the same variety. The difference pneumonic and bubonic is where the bacteria infected you. It can also infect your blood, which is septicemic.

[u/Shadows802 → u/CalmBeneathCastles]

And Armadillos are immune to it.

[u/yuropod88 → u/Shadows802]

Finally some good news.

[u/OhHaiMaaark → u/Prepper-Pup]

Russia keeps everything potentially embarrassing locked down. If we are hearing something it means what’s really going on may be out of control

[u/tlrider1 → u/Prepper-Pup]

"overly cautious" and "Russia" should not be in the same 100 volume book series, let alone in the same sentence.

[u/I_am_human_ribbit → u/IAMA_Drunk_Armadillo]

It’s all good, we got Kennedy at the helm, working hard with Trump to come up with the best solution and protections for us. It will all be over by Easter. /s

[u/Agreeable_Till_8471 → u/Prepper-Pup]

Buy tp after work before everyone else catches on, got it 🫡

[u/PizzaWhole9323 → u/Agreeable_Till_8471]

Fill your cart full of TP, hand sanitizer, and bottled water while running down the Costco aisle screaming oh my God it's happening again it's happening again!

[u/TheDreamingDragon1 → u/PizzaWhole9323]

"This is the last Costco with TP Martha OMG!"

[u/hizashiYEAHmada → u/TheDreamingDragon1]

Me with my bidet, chuckling as I watch the chaos unfold over at the TP section

[u/barrhavenite → u/Agreeable_Till_8471]

Don’t stop at one pack. Rent a UHaul and buy them all.

[u/Lordnerble → u/barrhavenite]

i went to the beach and got some seashells

[u/ohnodamo → u/Lordnerble]

This guy knows how the seashells work!

[u/IhopeitaketheL → u/Lordnerble]

Just three though right

[u/Optiguy42 → u/Agreeable_Till_8471]

Anyone who didn't invest in a bidet after 2020 learned nothing from the experience smh

[u/RememberKoomValley → u/[deleted]]

I had something like eight friends who were nurses or doctors. One of them still is. Everyone else is a landscaper or a line cook or a tutor now.

[u/FailTiny1175 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your nurse-ness.

[u/lowercaset → u/[deleted]]

Hospital support vendor here, if another pandemic rolls through I will ride it out at home. The hospitals can eat my whole ass if they think I'm gonna let them (or society in general) treat me like they did last time.

[u/Not_Cleaver → u/Prepper-Pup]

When Russia says “Anti-Plague Institute,” is it safe to assume that it’s actually a biological warfare division?

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/Not_Cleaver]

It wouldn't be the most ludicrous assumption, no.

[u/Dolthra → u/Not_Cleaver]

Possibly. Though people have also mentioned that the area this took place in still has plague outbreaks from time to time. It's not the most unreasonable place to have an anti-plague institute.

[u/punksmostlydead → u/Prepper-Pup]

official Russian News channels are denying anything is abnormally amiss

Which, of course, means we're looking at Captain Trips.

[u/TheGreatMalagan → u/Prepper-Pup]

Worth mentioning that pneumonic plague and bubonic plague are still the same disease, just different presentations of it! But both are caused by an infection of the same bacteria (Yersinia pestis)

[u/TheOnlyVertigo → u/TheGreatMalagan]

Born too late to die from plague in the Middle Ages, born just in time to worry about dying from plague in what I’m just going to start calling the idiot ages.

[u/TheGreatMalagan → u/TheOnlyVertigo]

what I’m just going to start calling the idiot ages.

The dark ages, if you will

[u/BakesaleAtSyrinx → u/TheOnlyVertigo]

We've had one plague, what about second plague?

[u/Ecstatic_Bee6067 → u/Prepper-Pup]

What may save us is just how lethal the untreated disease is. With COVID, people could walk around for weeks or months spreading the disease.

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/Ecstatic_Bee6067]

Maybe. But the incubation rate is up to a week, and both society & governments aren't going to be able to use effective containment measures. People won't tolerate it, and governments won't move fast enough.

[u/Psybi92 → u/Prepper-Pup]

This is true. I worked pharmacy/retail during COVID. People and the govt are born dumb as fuck. Imagine a respiratory virus and people buying out toilet paper and baby formula.

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/Psybi92]

I watched in real-time during my Master's degree as governments (and society) did the exact opposite of what I was being taught to properly contain a pandemic.
...yeah. I don't have a ton of faith in either.

[u/Shamino79 → u/Prepper-Pup]

Start throwing the word plague around and people might act slightly different. Having said that I thought there was likely going to be a boy who cried wolf effect if something more serious happened next.

[u/xxearvinxx → u/Prepper-Pup]

So if it can be easily treated with antibiotics, why did she die 2 days after hospitalization? Had she been exposed a while before and by the time her symptoms worsened to the point of needing to go to the hospital it was too late?

[u/ConsciousBluebird473 → u/xxearvinxx]

And why didn't she get treated immediately after exposure? Breaking a test tube doesn't tend to go unnoticed, and she'd know what was in it and how it should be treated. This is the concerning part. If it was so easily treatable, it wouldn't have gotten this far.

[u/Baconpwn2 → u/xxearvinxx]

Assuming this is garden variety pneumatic plague, you have 24 hours to get antibiotics. After that, it's too late. The concern is, we don't know if it was garden variety.

[u/kyxun → u/Baconpwn2]

You have to get antibiotics within 24 hours of being infected, or once symptoms start to show?

[u/colourofspace → u/kyxun]

I'm almost certain it's 24 hours after symptom onset

[u/Ja_Rule_Here_ → u/colourofspace]

Kind of terrifying… who goes to the doctor within 24 hours of getting sick? Most of us tough it out for a few days to see if we recover, sounds like with this that’s going to be deadly.

[u/xgbsss → u/Prepper-Pup]

Bacteria not virus edited: been corrected :)

[u/RunningLegless → u/Prepper-Pup]

Now is not the time to panic. That was 2hrs ago. If you haven't panicked yet you're too late and should start panicking about not panicking soon enough. Prepare yourself and order TP by the pallet load. If recent events have taught me anything, it's that the world is about to end and TP should be hoarded like a dragon

[u/jaypea222]

Good thing we got RFK jr. looking out for us

[u/Prize_Compote_207 → u/jaypea222]

"Yooo-uuu caaa-nnn use your forrre-skkkinn as aaaa shieee-ldd."

[u/Primary_Garbage6916 → u/Prize_Compote_207]

I don't have a foreskin can I borrow someone else's?

[u/winoforever_slurp_ → u/Primary_Garbage6916]

Obviously you can scavenge some from roadkill like a totally normal person

[u/Russian_For_Rent → u/Primary_Garbage6916]

Sure I've got a fiveskin lying around somewhere here

[u/Vyxwop → u/Prize_Compote_207]

God I recently heard him speak for the first time and the fact this guy is the secretary of health in the US is actually hilarious.

Depressing, but hilarious

[u/Electromotivation → u/Vyxwop]

Have you started eating your roadkill raccoon penis soup yet?

[u/Alleandros → u/jaypea222]

He's probably flying there right now to drink some reindeer piss.

[u/ImGumbyDamnIt → u/jaypea222]

Good thing he gutted the CDC and FEMA.

Totally unrelated question, I promise: Are Ciprofloxacin tablets that expired in 2015 still potent?

[u/xRolox → u/jaypea222]

Just drink some raw milk and shoot yourself up with some horse tranquilizer you’ll be right as rain /s

[u/BorisTheBlade-76]

Well, if there’s one thing history has taught us, it’s that Russia is totally forthcoming and transparent in times when the general populace is at risk or in great threat. Nothing to see here.

[u/WorldsWeakestMan → u/BorisTheBlade-76]

Well it will make a good HBO miniseries in 30 years.

[u/Intraluminal]

Six now.

Quarantined and Affected Hospitals • City Clinical Hospital No. 1 (Irkutsk) • City Clinical Hospital No. 3 (Irkutsk) • City Clinical Hospital No. 10 (Irkutsk) • Ivano-Matreninskaya City Children's Clinical Hospital (Irkutsk) • Shelekhov District Hospital (Shelekhov) – Where the initial patient was treated • A local maternity hospital is also reportedly affected.

[u/ESCMalfunction → u/Intraluminal]

I first heard about this like 10 hours ago and it already seems like it’s grown substantially in that timeframe. That’s… a little concerning to say the least.

[u/Jaredlong → u/ESCMalfunction]

Could also be that Russian officials were keeping it quiet, but after the story broke we're now getting all the details all at once.

[u/NagsUkulele → u/Intraluminal]

Y'all ready for round 2

[u/PTR95 → u/NagsUkulele]

Yay! Another "once in a lifetime" event for our generation!

[u/Tom_A_Foolerly → u/NagsUkulele]

I was already stockpiling because of the oil drought we're probably gonna have. So i'm ready to go lol

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/Intraluminal]

SON OF A-

The speed at which this is moving is a bit concerning.

[u/superkeer → u/Prepper-Pup]

Quarantines are protective measures. It doesn't mean anything catastrophic has necessarily happened, more so that precautions are being taken. To quarantine six hospitals is scary because it suggests something serious, but to quarantine six hospitals so close to news of ONE person infected does demonstrate their authorities are taking it much more seriously than American authorities would.

[u/DrawingAlarming7350 → u/Prepper-Pup]

my mental health cant take this shit 

[u/AshundertheOlivetree → u/DrawingAlarming7350]

If it makes you feel better, you are not alone and if you need to talk strategy to make it through and why, my DM is open.

[u/Alphabunsquad → u/Intraluminal]

Quarantined doesn’t mean that they found any cases there right?

[u/undisclosedusername2 → u/Intraluminal]

The amount of quarantined hospitals is a huge concern. Why would they do that if all of the contacts are asymptomatic/testing negative? Why are they even hospitalising the contacts if it is the typical strain - which isn't all that contagious?

Makes me wonder if they know that it isn't a typical strain and has a higher potential to spread.

I also wonder how long it will take for it to be revealed if more people contract it. We can almost guarantee that information won't be released willingly.

[u/Sudden-Money7836 → u/undisclosedusername2]

They’d quarantine to prevent any possible outbreak. Thats fairly straight forward.

Have they done that on time though is the question.

[u/Wiseduck5 → u/undisclosedusername2]

Why would they do that if all of the contacts are asymptomatic/testing negative?

Because that's literally what quarantine is. You quarantine apparently healthy individuals for the maximum length of the incubation period to confirm they don't have the disease. The word literally comes from the Venetian practice of making all ships wait 40 days before docking to prevent the spread of the plague.

You would think after a global pandemic people would have learned the meaning of the word.

[u/mr_snips → u/undisclosedusername2]

Simple, early plague symptoms are not remarkable: fever, headache, chills, etc. No different than the flu or any number of illnesses.

You don’t want someone with the plague coming in for the flu, infecting the staff, and getting discharged.

[u/Jaredlong → u/undisclosedusername2]

No way it's the typical strain. A plague research lab isn't paying a full time staff to just sequence the plague's DNA over and over again, they're intentionally introducing mutations to study how its capabilities change.

[u/Ill-Calligrapher3038]

If we aren't already refusing entry to all Russians, now might be a good time to start.

[u/Zelcron → u/Ill-Calligrapher3038]

Have you met this white house?

[u/Ill-Calligrapher3038 → u/Zelcron]

Fair point. I'm not American, though, and I still have hope that my government would shut the border if a plague starts spreading around the world.

[u/DontTouchTheWatch → u/Ill-Calligrapher3038]

American here. Our government beyond stupid and letting this through might actually be in their playbook as a means to cancel the November election. I’d say that’s ridiculous but then again they did ignore all the Covid stuff the first time months before it broke out.

[u/o08 → u/Zelcron]

The 3 day wedding party in the Bahamas had shitloads of Russians in attendance.

[u/lowlightliving]

So why wasn’t this lab tech immediately started on any of the widely available antibiotics known to be efficacious? Within minutes of the test tube breaking she should have begun a regimen. You’d think labs working with deadly bacteria would stock antibiotics.

[u/ethertrace → u/lowlightliving]

It sounds like she wasn't even immediately quarantined, so my best guess is either incompetence on management's part or she hid the initial incident because she didn't want to get in trouble.

[u/NationalDelay9573 → u/ethertrace]

Classic zombie movie reaction

[u/USS-VentureOperation → u/ethertrace]

because she didn't want to get in trouble.

I swear if this mentality doesn't get weeded out of our society we are fucked. Nearly every man-made disaster starts out with this.

[u/Ithirahad → u/USS-VentureOperation]

Then it did not start with that; it started with higher-ups who created an environment where the consequences of reporting an irregularity appear to be worse than the risks of not doing so.

[u/tgc220 → u/lowlightliving]

Unless they've modified it to resist all antibiotics...

[u/warm_kitchenette → u/tgc220]

Conceivable, but yersinia pestis is a gram-negative bacteria that already has multiple classes of antibiotics. 

[u/Baconpwn2 → u/tgc220]

While strands of the plague do exist which resist antibiotics, they trade infectious rate.

This is a story to watch carefully but it's not COVID. Siberia will naturally prevent spreading and morbidly enough, it kills too fast and efficiently to rapidly spread. Unless something unforeseen happens, this is a regional issue, not global

[u/theartificialkid → u/Baconpwn2]

Naturally perhaps, but who knows if they were working on a way to combine virulence, transmissibility and resistance all in one?

[u/Nessie_of_the_Loch → u/lowlightliving]

They must conduct their labs like they wage their wars - with the utmost incompetence.

[u/Oingo-Boingo_]

If its easily treatable, why did this woman die? Article didn't mention life saving measures but 2 days is super fast.

[u/AF_Mirai → u/Oingo-Boingo_]

The treatment must be given within 24 hours of first symptoms, untreated pneumonic plague has a mortality rate approaching 100% and can kill in as quickly as 36 hours.

[u/spikejonze14 → u/AF_Mirai]

You’d think that a disease research lab would be prepared for such a contingency

[u/AF_Mirai → u/spikejonze14]

I suspect the classic Russian practice of "sweeping accidents under the rug" had been involved in some capacity.

[u/Future311 → u/AF_Mirai]

Does the world have enough antibiotics on hand for every single person?

[u/Maccas75]

Well this has escalated from that one lab technician dying earlier.

[u/humboldt77 → u/Maccas75]

Life moves pretty fast.

[u/diogenes_amore → u/humboldt77]

If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

[u/humboldt77 → u/diogenes_amore]

You’re still here? It’s over. Go home. Go.

[u/Tunamelts-2]

Well if this is happening in Russia, then things are probably MUCH worse than what's actually being reported.

[u/Forward_Guess4163]

We better get danger pay as “essential workers” this fkn time

[u/YaBoyfriendKeefa → u/Forward_Guess4163]

That’s a 100% fatality rate if it’s not treated in the first 24 hours, you won’t live to collect your paycheck.

[u/Intelligent_Slip_849]

Wait, it's up to 5 hospitals now? It was just one researcher a few hours ago when I saw the story.

[u/Mysterious_Ad_6225 → u/Intelligent_Slip_849]

Just became six, as others have noted.

[u/Aura_Borealis90]

Me when measles started showing up again in the U.S: "What's next? The Black Plague?".

I hate it when I'm right.

[u/artisanrox]

And this time we have no adults in the room if it comes over here to the US. There will be no checks, no work stoppage, no available PPE. Half of the country doesn't even think shhht's real anymore.

Hoping Mongolia and/or Japan would be very upfront if anything happened over there.

edit: grammar

[u/XPhazeX]

Just in time for WoW: Forever.

Time is a flat circle

[u/SirCap]

Dear Russia, keep it in your fucking country.

Thanks,

The world

[u/TLKv3 → u/SirCap]

"Oh wow, guys, look it sucks but it seems we have to cancel our midterms for the sake of public safety as we conveniently found out the plague spread from Russia over here. Whoopsy dhoopsy!"

• Republicans currently salivating at the mere idea

[u/darsynia → u/TLKv3]

Axios had an article earlier today that was something like 'SCOOP: White House Monitoring Situation in Siberia' and I've never found an article more useless in my life. I would find it more newsworthy if they didn't care and weren't keeping an eye on it??

[u/1Meter_long → u/SirCap]

I wonder if they try to spread it now. I mean they can claim it was an accident because it hit them too. It could help them in the war by damaging West. This could also give them a reason to pull out from Ukraine so Putin might, just might not fall from window.

[u/karpaediem]

Sure, the original pathogen is treatable. However, let's be so honest, Annie Jacobsen's new book is literally about EXACTLY THIS and she made very clear that these diseases have been getting tweaked, engineered, modified, whatever to behave far differently. We can't assume we know anything, aside from that we should never trust a Russian public statement and anything they send to Siberia they don't want back.

[u/gurilagarden]

covid taught me a crucial lesson that you cannot trust anyone around you to put forth even a minimum effort towards reducing infection rates. I had people I knew, and thought I trusted, inviting me to their homes while they were still actively infected and symptomatic, they knew they were infected, and they didn't tell me. It happened more than once. Trust no one. Take every precaution. reduce in-person contact at all costs.

[u/Xmidnightsix88 → u/gurilagarden]

Also make sure to wash your hands

[u/transemacabre → u/gurilagarden]

I broke off a friendship because she literally got on a plane and went to Puerto Rico to party and hook up in 2020, when the rest of us were quarantining and terrified. Her excuse? She had a breakup and needed to party.

[u/Baconpwn2]

I'm not pressing the panic button until the quarantine lasts two weeks. The plague has a four to seven day incubation time. If the quarantine lasts longer than two weeks, we have human to human transference. That becomes a problem.

But I would ban travel to and from Russia or Mongolia. (Accident site is close enough to Mongolia that you could readily travel there.)

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/Baconpwn2]

The hospitals are already quarantined for 3 weeks. But I agree, not worth REALLY getting extremely worried until there's sustained human to human transfer.

*Edit- Sustained transfer.

[u/Nulovka → u/Prepper-Pup]

All of the infections past patient zero have been human to human transfer.

[u/AstralShip]

I don’t want to die just yet. I have some long-term things that need to get done.

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/AstralShip]

And thus we prepare. I ain't going down to some microscopic punk!

[u/Zelcron → u/AstralShip]

I just want to outlive that fat orange bastard, that's all I ask. I got sober because it was going to kill me before I saw him die.

[u/HairyUnderwear]

I just wanted Winds of Winter to be finished and released ...

[u/snowyday → u/HairyUnderwear]

Oh you sweet summer child 

[u/Careless-Gain6623 → u/HairyUnderwear]

Whoops sorry, real Westeros winter fever instead.

[u/Standard_Ostrich828]

I say again, just send in Leon Kennedy already.

[u/DramaticWesley]

As far as I can tell from the article, one lab tech broke a vial containing love plague virus. They say it she later died, but that there are no other illnesses yet reported. I don’t understand how 5 hospitals got possible contamination from a single case, so Russia might not be telling us everything. These things can be so difficult to isolate if you don’t catch them the moment they happen.

[u/Zenfudo → u/DramaticWesley]

Dude i was trying so hard to find out what a “love plague virus” was and why it was so bad

[u/NoExit1075]

Can we just not

[u/lod254]

Trump is president of the US. RFK is secretary of HHS. Mouth breathing red hats already think masks are for gay communists.

If this gets to the US, we're toast.

[u/frddtwabrm04 → u/lod254]

Worst thing about it. This is not even a joke!!!

[u/Arwenti]

An article in The Independent says the laboratory employee died on Thursday (01/10/2026).

“Prior to her death, she reportedly told medical personnel that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live biological samples while working inside the facility”

Given her place of employment was called The Anti Plague Research Institute there are some questions about where the samples came from, what the protocols were for handling samples, the PPE worn and then how she could have been infected and what the protocols in place were if someone potentially is exposed despite all the safety practices.

Was her death related to the broken test tube? Did it contain pneumonic plague? How was she at risk? When did this happen if so? Then what happened?

[u/BidAdministrative251 → u/Arwenti]

ah, the right questions.. too bad we'll hardly ever have the answers.

[u/AlienInOrigin]

They will hide facts. Look at Chernobyl. They outright lied to the entire world for months about how serious it was.

Whatever they tell us, it's probably 10 times worse. Minimum.

[u/PTR95]

Hopefully things get better in November, that's when Grand theft auto 6 comes out.

[u/OverWolverine1514]

Nothing some raw milk can’t cure

[u/Bulky-Bullfrog3707]

Good thing we have stable geniuses running things. FFS.

[u/Forge_Shield]

"Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute"

Lets hope that's all this is and is not a lab where they engineer bio-weapons and the strain that's gotten loose isn't a bio-weapon but just a run of the mill sample because it could get bad pretty quickly.

[u/penny-wise]

Two days after exposure? That’s pretty bad.

[u/Square_Principle_332 → u/penny-wise]

Two days after she was hospitalized.

[u/detroitdiesel]

COULD. WE. NOT?

[u/Ok_Branch2469]

Same germ, different part of the body. Bubonic is the lymph system(spread by fleas or lice),. Pneumonic is the lungs(highly contagious), Septicemic is the blood.

And yes you can have multiple at once

[u/YT_RandomGamer01]

Genuine question, was this something they had for legit research purposes or could this have been in preparation of a biological attack? Because I read Russia may have been planning an attack on nato or nato aligned countries, and I wouldn't put it past them to use biowarfare. I mean Russia doesnt seem to mind committing war crimes. Please tell me I have my tinfoil on too tight

[u/Prepper-Pup → u/YT_RandomGamer01]

The honest answer is that we don't know. But I admit the timing is very, very suspicious.

But sometimes the truth (in this case, random chance) is stranger than fiction.

[u/1Meter_long → u/YT_RandomGamer01]

Releasing modified disease with extremely high lethality would be something no one would accept. Not China, not Iran and Not even N. Korea. Its close as bad as nuking a country but this could be even worse because its uncontrolled. You can't control how a disease spreads, and Chinese, Russian and Iranian people could easily be victims too. Using that bad biological weapon would be the end of Russia.

[u/SgtHulkasBigToeJam]

Somewhere in Siberia a dog is racing through the snow chased by a Russian in a helicopter firing pop shots from a rifle

[u/ruehite]

Donald Trump is a particular expert at this variation of the pathogen we should send him there he can cure it in 48 hours

[u/Primal_Pedro]

Oh good. That's the kind of news I wanted to read this Sunday night.

[u/VersusYYC]

The only answer is to quarantine Russia by banning all transport and trade with the country, transit through the country, and conducting strict quarantines and entry bans of any individuals that have passed into or through Russia at some point after the beginning of this year.

Now as for what to do about this Russian plague outbreak…

[u/wuckfork]

Well I’m a first responder. Great knowing you all.

[u/karpaediem → u/wuckfork]

Sorry bro, I'll bang pots for you tho

[u/save_the_bees_knees]

Considering it’s Russia I doubt we’ll ever know the full story until it’s too late.

[u/Triana177]

2026 Bingo is really impressing...

[u/dshookowsky → u/Triana177]

I think you misspelled 'depressing'

[u/VeraLumina]

Somehow that demented fool will blame Dr. Fauci.

[u/DaveAwesome777]

Does this have anything to do with the Russian scientist dying in the plague Laboratory of an unknown disease? 

[u/DD10Breezy]

Raccoon city?

[u/perpetual_stew]

oh yeah, it's time for that pandemic stage of the Trump presidency again.

[u/campfire_eventide]

This administration can’t keep lettuce or beef safe and now they’re in charge or mobilizing a response to the literal plague if this goes global

Just f*cking perfect

[u/lagbugddos]

Anyone else retroactively mad at the dead person in question for breaking a tube of BIOHACKED PLAGUE and only telling people on their deathbed?

[u/beedub82]

Thanks, Russia! You fucks.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Pass-64]

I'm not worried. RFK Jr is in charge of the US Health system. What could go wrong?

[u/bmorenursey]

For those wondering why she wasn’t treated, there’s a possibility that’s even scarier than antibiotic resistance.

“ A chimera is a biological organism which has been altered so that the ‘new version’ also has characteristics of another biological organism. Russian scientists were experimenting with the idea of taking Y. pestis and inserting various other known toxins into the cells. One day, the announcement was made at Biopreparat that such a design had been successfully made. They inserted a plasmid containing the gene for myelin toxin into Y. pestis . The design was simple and disturbing. If a patient were diagnosed with pneumonic plague in time to be treated, the antibiotics would attack and lyse the plague cells, thereby releasing the plasmid coding for myelin toxin which would cause paralysis, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and changes in behavior. “

https://www.montana.edu/historybug/yersiniaessays/hale.html

Consider wearing a mask in public.

[u/jaraxel_arabani → u/bmorenursey]

That is so diabolical in design

[u/Hadrian23 → u/bmorenursey]

Jesus Christ, fucking umbrella corp over there,.

[u/FrankieMint]

Have any of you read "The Black Death", a 1977 thriller novel co-authored by Gwyneth Cravens and John S. Marr?

The novel details a terrifying breakout of both bubonic and pneumonic plague in late 1970s New York City.

The novel is highly regarded for its realistic medical and epidemiological details. Co-author John S. Marr was a real-life physician and the actual former director of epidemiologic research for the New York City Department of Health.

[u/Karinka_LI]

Well now I feel less bad about accidentally buying paper towels at bjs when I didn’t need them.

[u/ResidentAccurate2435]

Well it’s a good thing we have a trustworthy and competent government to lead and watch out for us here in the US.

/s obviously

[u/hellranger788]

I imagine having a massive health crisis during a large war isnt helping things. I remember reading how they've shifted to a war economy, and I dont think their health care systems have been spared budget cuts to be funneled into the military.

Would be fascinating to find out if this, and not military force or economic pressure, would be the thing that decides of Russia collapses or not. Wars get alot of press, but diseases are scary as hell.

[u/LumpyCustard4]

You know, i attended the Japanese GP in late 2019. When i got back to Australia there was rumours about a flu in China.

Guess who just attended the Bahrain GP in Malaysia? Im sorry guys, Icarus has flown too close to the sun.

[u/Horcsogg]

So that's why suddenly more people are wearing masks in China in the northern region closer to Russia.

I live here and I noticed this.

[u/CrazyinLull]

Ah, man. Why is it everytime Trump is in office we get a new plague?

[u/nitnit76]

Shut down all flights to and from Russia.

[u/Soobrdit8]

How the fuck did they let it get out?!??

[u/Popular-Drummer-7989 → u/Soobrdit8]

Worker broke a viral. She's dead now

[u/Valuable-Assist-1351]

I’m getting Stephen Kings The Stand vibes, JFC!

[u/manderifffic]

Suddenly I can justify spending $60 on satin pillowcases (it's because the world's ending)

[u/PlayedUOonBaja]

The first lady died 2 days after exposure. Fast acting illnesses like that don't travel too well.

[u/fe-and-wine → u/PlayedUOonBaja]

The original reporting says the initial exposure was on the 25th of September when she broke the tube, but didn't go to the hospital until the 29th. Two days after that is when she died.

So that puts the overall timeline at closer to ~6 days post-exposure.

[u/97zx6r → u/fe-and-wine]

Which is actually strange. She would have known what was in the tube so if it was even a possibility of a deadly infection why would she wait days to seek treatment?

[u/MDRprocessor]

Scary close to Annie Jacobsen's latest nightmare inducing book, Biological War: A Scenario. https://youtu.be/qsoA2aaE2hM?is=jT1rzydQ4IkllL7k

[u/sexcells → u/MDRprocessor]

I was thinking the same thing. Modified pneumonic plague from Siberia. Fortunately, I think the American vector from the book is pretty unlikely. Wasn't it like some rich tourist on a hunting trip in Siberia who found patient zero?

[u/Oceansany]

And then it mysteriously end up in Ukraine

[u/Penny_gadget82]

This sounds just like the scenario from Annie Jacobsen's book Biological war.

[u/LeadingAd8902]

This is like how movies like Contagion start.

[u/greatthebob38]

This news comes right after the researcher that died.

[u/AdZealousideal7448]

Russia : why do bad things keep happening to me?

Ukraine - hey stop invading us!
Russia - NEVER

[u/bellaventurine]

jeezus… the smoke hasn’t even yet cleared from annie jacobsen’s new book smashing bookshelves & the russians dive right into the script. we’re all fucked.

[u/rememberpianocat]

Millenials globally: "can we just not please..."

[u/spderweb]

Shouldn't Russia be immediately locked out of travel elsewhere? Like, this seems like a no brainer.

[u/thetasteofink00 → u/spderweb]

No. Everyone likes to wait until the horse has bolted.

[u/CaptainVisual4848]

I just read Annie Jacobsen’s new book Biological War about what would happen if a biological weapon was released. It was based on a hypothetical scenario pretty much like this where the plague is accidentally released from a Russian research station in Siberia. It took 6 days to get around the world.

[u/NeedleworkerLow1100]

Sure why not. It's 1579 up in here.

[u/talltad]

If this hits America Trumps base will be wiped out.

[u/RadioWeak1118]

Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, releases a plague, fucking russia.

[u/curvedotter]

I'll start to panic when the White House tells us it's a hoax.

[u/ridnovir]

But Tulsi told us that bio labs are in Ukraine 🤡😂

[u/IM_NOT_NOT_HORNY]

This really is the darkest timeline.

Dark ages 2: electric grid failure due to data center boogaloo

[u/stucazo]

who knew the worldwide emergency that will stop the mid-terms is coming out of Russia. what a shocker. how could anybody have seen this coming.