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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. 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]

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