Google and Yandex searches for ‘plague’ explode in Russia amid zero patient fears
Russians have sharply increased searches for information about plague after hospitals in the Irkutsk region imposed quarantine measures following the death of a young laboratory worker.
Google Trends data, checked by Kursiv Uzbekistan on Monday afternoon, showed that the Russian-language search term «чума» — plague in English — spiked to about 2,800% higher interest between September 29 and October 5, and about 5,000% higher than a year ago.
The spike came after reports that a hospital in the town of Shelekhov, in the Irkutsk region, had been placed under quarantine over a suspected «particularly dangerous infection.»
Yandex Wordstat, the Russian analogue of Google Trends, recorded much higher public interest: there were over 1.4 million searches for «plague» and almost 170,000 for «plague in Irkutsk.»
Read to update yourself: From Black Death to Russian lab: How lethal (and curable) is plague?
How it started
The surge in searches has come amid conflicting reports over the death of 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute.
Russian media reported that Shipilova may have died from pneumonic plague. The Moscow Times suggested she became ill after returning from Thailand, while another claimed she had accidentally broken a test tube containing the pathogen while working at the institute. Neither account has been officially confirmed.
Russia’s consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Shipilova had been diagnosed with «pneumonia of unknown aetiology» and that tests had not detected microorganisms linked to her professional work. The agency said the epidemiological situation in Irkutsk and Shelekhov remained stable.
Read also: White House puts suspected Russian plague outbreak on watchlist
Around 200 people who may have been in contact with Shipilova were placed under medical observation, while several hospitals in Irkutsk later introduced quarantine restrictions.
