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Nearly 200 people under observation after Irkutsk lab worker dies from plague

222 points · 202 comments · ericmay

  1. helsinkiandrew · · focus · HN ↗
    So breaks a test tube of live bacteria at an “anti-plague institute”, possible infects 100 colleagues, then when she developed plague like symptoms is taken to hospital and possibly infects 100 patients.

    I think they need to investigate their safety protocols

    > She reportedly told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria while collecting samples for testing.

    > At least 197 people who may have had contact with her were reportedly placed under medical isolation, including more than 100 in hospital wards.

    1. hliyan · · focus · HN ↗
      Was this a glass test tube? I understand why glass is probably the best material for the inner lining of containers that hold biological material, but I'm surprised that there aren't better solutions for hazardous material (e.g. an unbreakable, transparent polymer outer coating).
      1. doodlesdev · · focus · HN ↗
        I believe the biggest reason to use glass is that it doesn't react with much stuff, but I've yet to see an explanation for why your idea wouldn't work. I imagine there could be problems with autoclaves (i.e. degradation of the polymer) and fear of chemical leaching.
        1. fc417fc802 · · focus · HN ↗
          Polymer coated glass is commonplace in chemistry labs for large containers of hazardous reagents held in storage. There's no chemical leaching concern because it's on the outside.

          If anything, disposable plastic test tubes are the norm in microbiology labs at this point. No need to autoclave because they come sterile and you throw them away after a single use.

          Plenty of plastic that's designed for it goes through the autoclave. For example micropipette tips. Nearly all of it is disposable single use so it only has to withstand a single cycle.

          1. murkt · · focus · HN ↗
            Not sure that throwing away plastic tubes with samples of plague bacteria is a good idea
            1. jacquesm · · focus · HN ↗
              Disposing of and throwing away are two different things. Throwing away is a subclass of 'disposing of' and there are many other such subclasses including safe destruction, for instance by incineration.
            2. cluckindan · · focus · HN ↗
              That’s what the autoclave is for.
            3. scheme271 · · focus · HN ↗
              I'm pretty sure that it goes into a biohazard container that is then sterilized and probably incinerated.
        2. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

          [deleted]

      2. petre · · focus · HN ↗
        There is regular soda-lime glass and there is borosilicate glass.
      3. Havoc · · focus · HN ↗
        Or a double wall - one glass one polymer
    2. smsm42 · · focus · HN ↗
      That's Russia we're talking about. You can have 1000 protocols and people will ignore them anyway. You can ask a ton of questions, like was she immunized before working with plague (Russia has pretty effective vaccines against all types) and if not why the heck not, why they use easily breakable test tubes to hold dangerous pathogens, how the incident with live biomaterial was not immediately reported and caused a lockdown, but they allowed waiting for symptoms and then going to a general hospital, etc., etc. - but the answer for all of that, I suspect, is: "it's Russia". For an American, it's hard to appreciate to what measure Russia is not a "safety culture" country.
      1. vintermann · · focus · HN ↗
        > That's Russia we're talking about. You can have 1000 protocols and people will ignore them anyway.

        Speaking as someone who has a part of their job convincing people to follow safety processes, this isn't a Russia thing, it's a human thing.

        1. smsm42 · · focus · HN ↗
          [delayed]
          1. bsoqk · · focus · HN ↗
            Imagine if someone said something like this of a brown country. They would be banned right away.
          2. otabdeveloper4 · · focus · HN ↗
            You sound like a proper Russia kremlinology expert. How many stints in Russia did you do?
        2. helterskelter2 · · focus · HN ↗
          According to aquaintances in a few different industries where some of their competition is Russian: They basically work for vodka, then their equipment breaks down, they can't fix it and the customer has to call a western company. They apparently have no consistent maintenance or service protocol whatsoever, and in some rather safety critical areas.
          1. RussianBot9580 · · focus · HN ↗

            [dead]

      2. ValdikSS · · focus · HN ↗
        “You know why Russians rarely go to the doctor?

        Because they only have two diseases — clusterfuck and bullshit.

        Clusterfuck is completely incurable, and bullshit just goes away on its own…”

      3. 1718627440 · · focus · HN ↗
        Irregardless of the claim of correlation, between Russia and a lack of safety culture, it is currently a country in a war economy with populace shortages.
    3. mkotlikov · · focus · HN ↗
      I don't think there is any actual evidence that it was a broken test tube because she would have started on prophylactic antibiotic treatment immediately.

      Luckily you need to be in close contact with someone already very sick to catch it. It's not silent transmission like COVID. But maybe there is something different about this outbreak?

      1. no-name-here · · focus · HN ↗
        > I don't think there is any actual evidence that it was a broken test tube

        What does this mean? The article we’re discussing says the woman who died told colleagues she broke a test tube.

        1. r721 · · focus · HN ↗
          >The article we’re discussing says the woman who died told colleagues she broke a test tube.

          The article links to a telegram post [1] as source, which links to another telegram post [2], which now has an update:

          >It is not known exactly how Darya Shipilova contracted the plague. Currently, the theory involving a broken test tube is the leading one, but there is no official confirmation or independent verification of this information.

          (Google-translated)

          [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;t.me&#x2F;Govorit_NeMoskva&#x2F;70406" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;t.me&#x2F;Govorit_NeMoskva&#x2F;70406

          [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;t.me&#x2F;Baikal_People&#x2F;16629" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;t.me&#x2F;Baikal_People&#x2F;16629

    4. sajithdilshan · · focus · HN ↗
      Why on earth would she have contact with 197 people after she got exposed to bacteria? She should have immediately triggered safety protocols
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