Svetlana Shipilova, the mother of Darya Shipilova, a deceased employee of the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute in Russia, has categorically rejected the suggestion that her daughter broke a vial containing the plague pathogen. According to her, laboratory containers are designed in such a way that damaging them is practically impossible, reports infohub.kz.
The woman spoke with journalists while under quarantine in one of Irkutsk's hospitals. As of October 5, she was not allowed to leave the medical facility. She was tested and swabbed daily.
"They're checking something, searching. Maybe they fear some other infection, so that we don't catch some kind of COVID," Svetlana Shipilova said.
She also said she had still not received an official conclusion about her daughter's death.
"I'm waiting for it to be official. Not just in the media, but from Rospotrebnadzor. It must be an official document," Shipilova stated.
Svetlana Shipilova called the publications about the circumstances of her daughter's death a "show" and stressed that she does not believe a vial could have been accidentally damaged.
"It's very hard for me right now. This show continues. I don't want to read nasty things about my child. I know the truth. I'm fending off foolish acquaintances who believed all this. Smart people, of course, didn't believe it. Not all medics even understand that the vial cannot be broken. Even if you hurl it against a wall. Only an amateur could say that. Even hypothetically, it's simply impossible to spill or break it. They are so well protected," Svetlana Shipilova said.
At the time of the press interview, the funeral for Darya had not yet taken place. Her mother said the young woman had gotten a job at the institute after completing an internship.
"Dasha hasn't been buried yet. Who will bury her if we're sitting here in isolation? She was such a hard worker. A pure, such a pure person. Her boss is having a hard time because she knew Dasha and knew why she was hiring her. It's very hard to get into the Anti-Plague Institute. She saw how Dasha worked, she did her internship there. She realized she was a pure person, such a workaholic," Shipilova said.
The woman also raised complaints about how her daughter was treated.
"I saved more than one such patient, but my daughter wasn't saved. My daughter was simply destroyed, abandoned and destroyed," Svetlana Shipilova stated.
Darya Shipilova, 28, was hospitalized on September 29. She died in the night of October 1-2 at a hospital in the town of Shelekhov. After that, people who had contact with her were isolated and placed under medical observation.
Media circulated a version that the young woman contracted plague after breaking a vial at the institute and concealing the incident. There is no confirmation of this version. Rospotrebnadzor reported that the cause of death was pneumonia, and no emergency situations involving pathogenic microorganisms were found at the institute.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that passengers at the Kazakhstan-Russia border are being checked for signs of dangerous infections. So far, no sick people or people with suspicious symptoms have been identified.