00:00Panic is rising over a suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Russia after a young lab
00:05worker was killed and about 200 others were reportedly forced into quarantine.
00:09Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old researcher at a Russian anti-plague research institute in
00:14Irkutsk, reportedly died after breaking a test tube containing the plague pathogen.
00:19She was hospitalized on September 29th with symptoms of severe pneumonia,
00:24placed on a ventilator, and then died two days later, according to reports.
00:28The three main forms of plague include bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague,
00:33which is caused by inhaling infected droplets. Pneumonic plague is especially frightening because
00:38it can be highly contagious from person to person, transmitted via coughing or sneezing.
00:43While all forms can be treated with antibiotics, treatment of pneumonic plague must begin quickly.
00:49The mortality rate for pneumonic plague is near 100% if left untreated.
00:53The regional governor of Irkutsk declined to identify the illness,
00:57referring to it only as a dangerous infectious disease.
01:01Russia's public health agency, meanwhile, only said Shipilova had pneumonia of unknown etiology,
01:06and found no microorganisms linked to her work.
01:09The
