From TIME · Veronique Greenwood · · 3m
Death at a plague lab raises fears about Russia's secrets
A laboratory worker died in Siberia after a suspected accident. Experts worry the official story does not fit the scale of Russia's response.
In brief
A laboratory worker died in Siberia after a suspected accident. Experts worry the official story does not fit the scale of Russia's response. A plague researcher died in Siberia; Russia quarantined up to two hundred people and denied plague was found, prompting experts to question whether the official account masks a…
Worker dies at plague institute
A laboratory worker at a plague research institute in Siberia died last week after developing pneumonia. Local reports suggest she broke a test tube containing plague bacteria.
Russia denies plague was involved
Russian authorities told the World Health Organization that plague had not been detected in the worker's tests or in those of her close contacts.
Quarantine scale raises questions
Russian authorities have reportedly quarantined as many as two hundred people. Public health experts say this would be an unusual response to an isolated case of pneumonia.
WHO seeks more information
On Tuesday evening, the World Health Organization asked Russia for more information following media reports of a second case of pneumonia of unknown cause.
Lab accident explanation does not fit
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, says the pattern does not match a typical lab accident with a known bacterium.
Antibiotics should have worked
In labs studying Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, accidental exposure is treatable with antibiotics. You would not typically die from naturally occurring plague bacteria.
“You'd be fine. You don't die, typically.”
Experts worry about engineered pathogen
Some experts have said it is worth considering the possibility that an engineered pathogen, rather than a naturally occurring one, could be involved. Russia has a long history of bioengineering pathogens.
Jha worried about accidental release
Dr.Ashish K.Jha, who coordinated the White House's COVID response under President Joe Biden, wrote on X on October fourth that an accidental release from a deliberate program was a scenario he had long worried about.
World less prepared than before COVID
Jennifer Nuzzo says the protections in place in early twenty twenty are now fewer, and the world is more vulnerable. Reduced monitoring and less information flow between countries have weakened defences.
“The protections we had in 2019, early 2020, there are now fewer of them, and we are more vulnerable now than we were then.”
No biodetection system in place
Ashish K. Jha says the biggest weakness is the lack of a biodetection system. If someone in Siberia was infected and flew to New York City, the United States would not know.
“The biggest weakness we have is we have almost no biodetection system in our own country.”
New monitoring system being tested
Ashish K. Jha and Nikki Romanik, a colleague from the Biden White House, have started a public benefit corporation called BioRadar. It sequences everything in wastewater to detect anything that does not belong.
Pandemic preparedness capabilities dismantled
Ashish K. Jha says capabilities built for future outbreak preparation have been dismantled by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, including Project Next Gen and mRNA vaccine platform funding.
What matters most
A plague researcher died in Siberia; Russia quarantined up to two hundred people and denied plague was found, prompting experts to question whether the official account masks a larger biological threat.
