Why is threads talking about a plague taking over Europe

[Ffsnotagainwtf]

I often find thread's interesting, but tonight it's making me anxious by many talking about a plague from Russia that will shut down Europe from November
Someone please give me facts and happy news as it's exploded on there

Thank you so much for the reassurance x

Incidents of pneumonic plague whilst they not common are not completely rare. Just because one researcher in Russia has died from it, absolutely does not mean it will spread.

That said it is a lot more deadly than other posters imply with a much higher fatality rate (which in turn limits it's spread).

Anyway here are the facts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague

Sounds like you need to get off social media.

Her mum has said she wasnt stupid .

Why is everyone trusting Russia on this.

Yes it's reasuring if it's the plague / but what if it's not.

At least we are experienced with handling contagion now. And we know the cure and morphology (?) for this one.

Blimey that’s worrying. It takes at least four weeks to get a GP appointment around here and then a week for the pharmacy to dispense. I would be long gone before I could get my hands on any antibiotics.

Yesterday, the Director General of WHO posted:

”Last Friday, the 2nd of October, the first media reports emerged of a suspected case of pneumonic plague in a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute in the Russian Federation.

The lab worker died after being hospitalized with severe pneumonia. Initial media reports suggested pneumonic plague following an accidental lab exposure.

@WHO is aware that the Russian government held a meeting on the 2nd of October because they suspected a resident of the Irkutsk oblast had contracted a dangerous infection.

On Saturday, WHO asked the Russian Federation for more information, in accordance with the International Health Regulations.

On Tuesday, the Russian Federation responded, saying that no case of plague had recently been reported in the Irkutsk oblast, and that they had placed about 200 contacts in quarantine.

However, WHO has requested further information on the laboratory tests conducted on the individual who died and the contacts, more detail on what prompted the public health measures, and details about the health status of the contacts.

We have also sought verification of media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.

WHO has offered technical support related to plague and lab biosafety and biosecurity.

As we don’t yet have the full picture of this event, we are not able to conduct a full risk assessment.

Timely, complete and transparent information sharing under the International Health Regulations is essential to clarify conflicting reports and enable an accurate assessment of potential public health risks.”

Threads has an algorithm, it will show you what you're interested in. Click on one thread about this news story and it will show you more. It will also pick up that you're interested in doomsday scenarios and health problems, so you can expect more of that too.

This is, at the moment, a very minor news story. It sounds like it's being dealt with sensibly. Of course we don't know all the facts, but we do at least have recent experience of dealing with a pandemic, and governments will act quickly if they have to.

i believe the lab was working in antibiotic resistance in the lab

i find it odd they refer to it as plague

rather than The plague

Threads doesn't have an algorithm, it has a bus that drops you off somewhere with no context 😉

I think it’s because Plague is what it is actually called. THE plague has just become a way people refer to it but it’s not an official term. People have become used to referring to it that way. Like you could say someone has THE flu. But you wouldn’t find it odd if someone just said they had/have flu. Official reports would likely say someone had influenza. Not THE influenza. No one says they have the sepsis. It’s just sepsis. Plague is the disease.

It sounds like a bit of a non event. The Russians have said the lab worker didn’t die of Yersinia Pestis (the plague bacterium) and have denied rumours of a second case.

(However, although plague is very treatable, I don’t think it is too fatal to spread effectively. It did a great job in the Middle Ages and pneumonic and bubonic plague are the same pathogen.)

Well, I suppose it will be all over Facebook soon, that's ripe for it

It seems that the WHO are trying to establish exactly what has happened/is happening and Russia are being cagey in their reporting.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/07/who-says-it-does-not-have-full-picture-from-russia-following-suspected-plague-death

So we can't really say much with any degree of certainty at this point. It could be a well contained accident involving one death, due to a well known and easily treatable disease or it could not be any of those things.

The WHO isn't sure and the Russian narrative is in conflict with the researchers own mother's account of events, so I don't know how posters on this thread are so certain.

That story is two days old.

I think a lot more would be happening by now (more comprehensive lockdown, quarantine etc) were there anything to worry about.

Well... a textbook case of fuck around and find out. And to think that one of the most repeated claims of russian propaganda is that Ukraine has secret biolabs breeding plague specifically to wipe out pure blooded Russians. The irony is spectacular.

Well that's before the Russian lab modified it to be antibiotic resistant and God knows what else. I doubt anything will come from this case but tend to think its only a matter of time before something awful breaks out of somewhere.

That's kind of my biggest concern actually. After the mass hysteria and over reaction to Covid, plus the amount of money spent innit, my fear is that if a genuinely deadly and infectious disease occurred now then a large proportion of people would be sceptical and dismissive of it until it was too late.

Even without antibiotic resistance, "treatable" still means mortality of around 20% even if immediately treated. And many cases leave survivors with lifelong disability.
I'm always surprised people spend so much time scaring themselves with nuclear war scenarios and so little thinking about biological weapons, where attribution can be vastly more difficult and plausible deniability is perfect. The Soviet Union had an actual programme to weaponise plague delivered via the very same network of "Anti-Plague Research Institutes" that included the one in Irkutsk.

Russia might not have been motivated to report it globally as they should be, but they are definetly moviivated to stop its spread as it would seriously hamper their war effort. 'Culturally' brutally they have the means to enforce lockdown rules more firmly than a lot of other countries.
Also this is not a novel disease there are outbreaks periodically globally and it spreads slowly.

It's about as concerning as an Ebola outbreak in a west african country. Shit happens, sad a 28yo dies, but not going to give me flashbacks to lockdown with a toddler!

It was a misunderstanding. A rational and measured approach helps one's state of mind I think.

And all the tin foil hats and irresponsible scaremongering will be running riot.

You would need to ring 111 for a same day appointment 🙏🏼