Mother of Russian Anti-Plague Institute Worker Disputes Daughter's Cause of Death

The mother of Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, has pushed back against circulating reports that her daughter's death was caused by breaking a test tube. Svetlana Shipilova, herself a medical professional, told the Russian outlet Glubina that she does not believe this account of her daughter's demise.

"I know the truth," Svetlana Shipilova reportedly stated. "I’m having to fend off stupid acquaintances who believed all this — the clever ones didn’t believe it, of course. Not even all medical professionals understand it’s impossible to break a test tube like that. Even if you fling it at the wall. Only an amateur could say something like that. Even hypothetically, you simply can’t spill what’s inside or break the tube — they’re that well protected."

She also asserted to reporters that "They simply let my daughter die."

Russian public health agency Rospotrebnadzor has stated that Shipilova died of "pneumonia of unknown origin." According to the agency, extensive testing found no evidence that her illness was linked to the pathogens she worked with at the institute.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented on the situation, noting, "we don’t yet have the full picture of this event, and we are not able to conduct a full risk assessment."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated on X that it is "aware of and closely monitoring reports of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region of Russia that resulted in a death." The CDC added that it is working across the U.S. government to assess developments as additional information becomes available.