By all accounts, Daria Shipilova, 28, was a high-flying young scientist, respected by her managers and peers.
asserted
Shipilova → fly → managers
She had graduated from her medical university in Irkutsk, Russia, two years ago with a Red Diploma, the equivalent of a first-class degree.
asserted
She → graduate → degree
Daria was headhunted for a career at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia, and had started publishing research papers involving study of the bacterium behind the notorious Black Death that so decimated the medieval world.
asserted
that → headhunte → world
In her personal life, she was in love and appeared to have her whole life in front of her.
asserted
she → appear → her
Yet on Friday, September 25, she visited her institute for the final time.
asserted
she → visit → time
The story is that she dropped a test tube containing the pneumonic plague pathogen at the laboratory.
asserted
she → drop → laboratory
And that was how she succumbed to the disease.
asserted
she → succumb → disease
The following Tuesday, Daria was rushed to Shelekhov District Hospital, where it appears she was initially treated for misdiagnosed acute coronavirus.
asserted
she → follow → coronavirus
'Her relatives say the doctors treated her symptoms as a severe form of Covid right up until the end, put her on a ventilator, and antibiotics were administered too late,' said Miroslava, her former colleague.
asserted
Miroslava → say → ventilator
On the eve of her death on October 2, panic gripped the scientific and medical fraternity, first in Siberia and then in Moscow.
asserted
panic → grip → Moscow
In the hours before she died, there were sudden moves to lock down her hospital and the Irkutsk Institute.
asserted
she → die → hospital
Miroslava revealed: 'From October 2, the entire inpatient section of Shelekhov hospital was closed for quarantine, with all 114 patients locked inside.'
By all accounts, Daria Shipilova, 28, was a high-flying young scientist, respected by her managers and peers.
asserted
Shipilova → reveal → managers
Since her death, panic has gripped the medical and science worlds
asserted
panic → grip → worlds
Russia's chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova, 65, boarded a plane for a five-hour flight east to Irkutsk to take personal charge.
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doctor → board → charge
Ironically, at her last Kremlin meeting with Putin on September 15, Popova had told him how Russian medics were vaccinating Mongolians against the plague.
asserted
medics → tell → plague
She informed the dictator: 'A great deal of work is being done on the plague, it is an important infection which, unfortunately, continues to affect the world and probably always will.'
asserted
which → inform → world
And this is what makes the story so odd.
asserted
story → make → ?
As Popova suggested, though serious, the plague in that part of the world is not unknown.
uncertain
plague → suggest → world
In July, Mongolia's National Centre for Zoonotic Diseases (NCZD) confirmed a human plague case in Khovd province in the western part of the country.
asserted
Centre → confirm → country
The centre warned that 17 out of 21 provinces were classified as plague-risk areas.
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provinces → warn → areas
Several cases have been reported in recent years, including fatal infections.
asserted
cases → report → infections
And yet there has been nothing like the kind of reaction we have seen in relation to Daria's death.
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we → see → death
Why was she not treated with antibiotics which, as anyone working on human plague pathogens would know can be successful?
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anyone → treat → pathogens
Indeed, why did Putin's medical chief, feel the need to rush to Siberia where plague cases have cropped up from time to time for years?
asserted
cases → feel → years
Popova worked 'virtually around the clock' after Daria's death, according to regional governor Igor Kobzev.
uncertain
Popova → work → Kobzev
Yet, for unexplained reasons, she failed to utter a single word about the emergency even as her health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, sought to claim there is no crisis and tragic Daria died of a 'pneumonia of unknown aetiology'.
uncertain
Daria → fail → aetiology
The test-tube story was denied by Rospotrebnadzor which insisted that her infection and death were unrelated to her laboratory work.
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infection → deny → work
It gets more curious.
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It → get → ?
Pregnant women in the city of Irkutsk have been asked to fill out a 'plague' checklist.
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women → ask → checklist
This was reported by blogger Ulyana Gavryunina.
asserted
This → report → Gavryunina
On October 5, she went for a check-up at the Irkutsk City Perinatal Centre.
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she → go → Centre
Her mother, who was accompanying her, was not allowed into the maternity ward.
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who → accompany → ward
The centre introduced a restricted access regime on Friday, allowing only pregnant patients to enter.
'
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patients → introduce → Friday
They explained to me that there was unconfirmed information about a virus that could be even more dangerous than the coronavirus, that it was unclear what kind of virus it was and how to deal with it.
uncertain
it → explain → it
So, they introduced a quarantine, and it's unclear how long it will last,' Ulyana said.
uncertain
Ulyana → introduce → quarantine
A patient at City Clinical Hospital No 1 insisted: 'We are under full quarantine.
asserted
We → insist → quarantine
None of our relatives are being allowed in.
asserted
None → allow → relatives
We are not being allowed out.
asserted
We → allow → ?
In quarantine, too, and unable to hold a funeral for their beloved daughter, are Daria's parents Nikolay and Svetlana, and her four siblings.
It is clear the real story is not being told.
asserted
story → hold → daughter
And, increasingly, there is speculation that Daria and the institute may have been involved in a research project on biological warfare or some genetically manipulated organism that mistakenly got out into the world.
uncertain
that → be → world
…and 51 more, not listed.
The Aporia
