Patients With Deadly Bacteria Escape From Hospital In Russia
After five people in Russia contracted the bacteria anthrax, four of them left the hospital before their symptoms had subsided. This might sound like a movie plot at first, but it’s a real thing that occurred late last month that could be part of a growing trend. Whether the illness has been spread by any of the hospital escapees or not is not currently known.
Four people that contracted anthrax after ingesting horse meat in Russia fled the hospital before being cleared for release.
According to Neoscape, a republic in the southern Siberia region of Russia called Tuva is the location of the bacteria infection, which apparently involved people eating horse meat. Reports say that the event took place at a shepherd’s encampment in the town of Bizhiktig-Khaya where some 100 horses were being kept, unvaccinated. It appears that people ate some meat from the horses and that one person contracted anthrax, followed by four more.
State-run media in Russia is not known for its transparency, so reports of a bacteria outbreak are not likely to be invented, meaning this event likely actually took place. Whether the state-controlled news is spinning the event to be less concerning than it is cannot be known, but we hope that isn’t the case. Whatever happened, it appears that four of the patients escaped from the hospital before being cleared for release, posing a danger to the local population.
As climate change continues to affect regions like Russia, melting ice is releasing bacteria and other unfrozen microbes into the environment, meaning more events of this nature could take place, whether there is more unvaccinated horse-eating or not.
The potential for spread from these escaped patients isn’t exactly on the level of a potential zombie disaster, but it’s certainly alarming. Especially in a post-pandemic world, it’s distressing to hear about any illness running loose.
Whether the state-controlled news is spinning the event to be less concerning than it is cannot be known, but we hope that isn’t the case.
Anthrax has been seen in other regions of Russia too, including an outbreak of the bacteria in 2016 that took place in the northern Siberian Yamal Peninsula. That was an especially bad event, leading to numerous infections and even the death of a child. Whether more such events will occur in the near future or the hypothesis regarding melting ice releasing contagions will come to pass remains to be seen, but caution is always advised in these situations.
The state media in Russia is reporting that the bacteria patients were in “satisfactory condition” before leaving the facility, but doctors stress that they had been instructed to wait until their symptoms were gone completely and they were medically cleared before going home.
As climate change continues to affect regions like Russia, melting ice is releasing bacteria and other unfrozen microbes into the environment, meaning more events of this nature could take place.
How they got out and how closely they were being watched are other questions to which no one currently has answers. But it seems they were somehow able to make an escape, perhaps all at once and perhaps individually.
Anthrax Symptoms
The information from Russia relates that the bacteria causes problems with the skin, which is where the symptoms of the anthrax infection show. Other possible symptoms of anthrax poisoning include fever, chills, sore throat, pain during swallowing, headache, swelling of neck or neck glands, hoarseness, nausea, bloody vomiting, diarrhea, and more. We’re just hoping that everyone who was infected is alright and that the outbreak hasn’t spread.
