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The reported death of 28-year-old laboratory technician Darya Shipilova at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute in Shelekhov, Siberia, Russia, has raised questions about a possible exposure to pneumonic plague and prompted calls for greater transparency. Yersinia pestis is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that causes plague.

Scott Pegan, a professor of biomedical sciences in the UC Riverside School of Medicine, answers questions on this topic in the Q&A below. Pegan's research focuses on emerging infectious diseases, viral-host immune interactions and the development of antiviral therapies and vaccines, particularly for coronaviruses and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.

On Oct. 2, 2026, a laboratory leak occurred at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Shelekhov, resulting in the death of 28-year-old laboratory technician Shipilova.

Nations such as Russia, the United States and others maintain research on Yersinia pestis to develop defensive mitigation strategies and therapeutics against a pathogen that is viewed globally as a potential biological threat agent and is still endemic to many countries, including the United States and Russia. Although offensive biowarfare development is outlawed by international treaty under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in all but four countries, defensive research remains essential to prepare for biosecurity risks and naturally occurring outbreaks.

Yersinia pestis manifests in three primary clinical forms: bubonic plague (characterized by painful, swollen lymph nodes), septicemic plague (a severe bloodstream infection) and pneumonic plague (an infection of the lungs).

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