US closely monitoring case of lab worker who possibly died of plague in Siberia

DeepYogurt

I always wanted to live through TWO pandemics! /s

tomashertus

Damn, I'm worried whether Russia’s response will prioritise containing the pathogen or containing the embarrassment. You can’t patch a public-health incident with a press release.

2OEH8eoCRo0

First China and now Russia? We can't allow a pandemic gap!

r721

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960084 (277 comments)

x86x87

the same US that gives zero fraks about public health and gutted the CDC before and during the pandemic?

kgeist

Wikipedia says: "in the United States, infections occasionally occur in rural areas, where the bacteria are believed to circulate among rodents." A few years ago a boy in Russia contracted the plague after interacting with a wild marmot, he was treated successfully without any problems. I think this news is overblown, because everyone immediately pictures 14th century Europe

ChrisArchitect

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960084

jorblumesea

glad we laid off so many government workers and cdc staff, and politicized their work. very cool and certainly making things great.

rootedbox

I really don't like FAFO science.

adamrezich

September 23rd, 2026: - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls Vladimir Putin “patient zero” of global wars spreading: “He must be denied the space to act and the space to spread this evil further.” - Taylor Swift announces surprise new single: “Patient Zero”

vanillacupcake

“COVID was airborne. COVID had a case fatality rate of 1%. Pneumonic plague, without antibiotics, has a case fatality rate of 100%.” Annie Jacobsen Author of Biological War [00:23:00] https://www.jordanharbinger.com/annie-jacobsen-the-genes-and...

bilekas

> a 28-year-old employee at the anti-plague institute in the city of Irkutsk, became ill at work... > It remains unclear how she became unwell. That's some fine reporting right there.

metalman

the person who died , I believ lived and worked in the same area, and presumably would have recieved every availible escalation in care, and that she was likely ambulatory on admitance would have relayed her ocupational hazards, that she died implies that, she had a compromised immune system or pre existing complication or condition, or this was an exceptionaly virolent infection or less likely, incompetence and botched care, even less likely her cause of death is completly unrelated to the plauge. that they have quarantined hundreds suggests that this is in fact an unknown virolent infectios disease. almost certainly, cultures and dna tests are well underway and there will be clear answers within 48 hr's or sooner.

giardini

Will the next cases be in Ukraine?

dyauspitr

The only thing that doesn’t scare me as much about this is that it’s bacterial.

AndrewKemendo

Quick reminder that the last time the US had the current president, the world had a pandemic about halfway through

indoordin0saur

Isn't this easily treated with anti-biotics these days? Surprised that someone would die of plague in this day and age so long as treatment is prompt, which for a lab worker it seemingly should have been...

danielodievich

One of the popular sarcastic meme posting channels on russian Telegram today posted a picture of an ad "Wanted: lab worker, ready to break a vial right next to just the right person. Benefits: $10M payout; guaranteed care of your descendants; your name mentioned in annals of history". Nice and dark and very accurate.

tygon

The Plague is very much still around, yes. Around the world, we get a few cases every year, but we are not in the Dark Ages. Much of the reason it caused as many deaths as it did was due to a lack of understanding. We did not know what really caused disease, we did not know ships were carrying the disease vector, we did not have proper treatments, etc. Today for the cases we have, it is a lot more treatable. We of course monitor it, so we can be prepared (close off vectors of spread like airlines, for example), but there really is nothing to worry about. Happens all the time.

737min

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/iu-biology-researcher-p... “Youhuang Xiang (“Xiang”), 32, formerly a post-doctoral researcher at Indiana University and a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, has been sentenced to more than four months in prison, a $500 fine, and one year of supervised release, after pleading guilty to smuggling biologic materials into the United States from China.”