Is there an outbreak of plague in Russia?
俄罗斯是否暴发了鼠疫？
The short answer: We don’t know. The slightly longer answer: A woman who works in a remote Siberian lab that studies plague has died of pneumonia. The lab has been locked down and the Russian authorities aren’t saying much, which has fueled speculation and rumors.
简短的回答是：我们不知道。稍微详细一点的回答是：一名在西伯利亚一家研究鼠疫的偏远实验室工作的女子因肺炎去世。该实验室已被封锁，而俄罗斯当局对此守口如瓶，这助长了猜测和谣言。
There’s a lot we still don’t know. The Times has gathered all the available information and talked to experts to try to make as much sense of it as possible. (Spoiler alert: Don’t panic.)
目前仍有许多未知之处。《纽约时报》收集了所有可用信息，并与专家进行了交谈，试图尽可能地弄清情况。（剧透预警：无需恐慌。）
Who died, and how?
死者是谁？死因是什么？
Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old employee of Irkutsk’s Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, seems to have died of a mysterious pneumonia earlier this month. Her death prompted Russian health authorities to quarantine the hospital where she died, along with the institute’s staff and other people who were in contact with her. So far, so unsettling.
达里娅·希皮洛娃是伊尔库茨克西伯利亚和远东抗鼠疫研究所的一名28岁员工，似乎在本月早些时候死于一种神秘的肺炎。她的去世促使俄罗斯卫生部门对她去世的医院、该研究所的工作人员以及与她有过接触的其他人实施了隔离。到目前为止，情况确实令人不安。
The plague still exists?
鼠疫至今仍然存在吗？
Yes. The plague has been with us a very long time. There are still a few hundred cases every year, mostly in Madagascar and Democratic Republic of the Congo, but also in the United States, Russia and other countries.
是的。鼠疫与我们共存了很长时间。每年仍有数百个病例，主要在马达加斯加和刚果民主共和国，但也存在于美国、俄罗斯和其他国家。
Many people know the plague as the “Black Death,” a pandemic that is thought to have killed at least a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century.
许多人将鼠疫称为“黑死病”，据信这场大流行在14世纪夺去了欧洲至少三分之一人口的生命。
Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes plague, has infected humans for thousands of years, also circulating among rodents and other small mammals, which serve as long-term reservoirs, and fleas, which spread it.
作为鼠疫的致病菌，鼠疫杆菌感染人类已有数千年之久，它也在啮齿动物和其他小型哺乳动物（作为长期宿主）以及传播这种细菌的跳蚤之间传播。
伊尔库茨克防瘟研究所发布的一张照片，展示了2019年专家们在俄罗斯克拉斯诺亚尔斯克的一间实验室中工作的场景。Are we talking about the bubonic plague?
我们说的是腺鼠疫吗？
There are three main ways that plague can infect humans: Bubonic plague occurs when the plague-causing bacteria multiplies in the lymph nodes, usually after a bite from an infected flea. Septicemic plague occurs when the infection spreads to the bloodstream. The most virulent type is pneumonic plague, which causes a severe rapid-onset lung infection and can be spread through a cough or sneeze.
鼠疫感染人类主要有三种方式：腺鼠疫通常是在被感染的跳蚤叮咬后，致病菌在淋巴结中繁殖而引发的；败血性鼠疫则是感染扩散至血液后所致；而毒性最强的是肺鼠疫，它会引起严重且起病急促的肺部感染，并可通过咳嗽或打喷嚏传播。
Left untreated, pneumonic plague can kill a victim within days. But all three types of plague respond well to antibiotics if they are taken quickly. Based on the information we have so far, most experts aren’t too worried.
如果不及时治疗，肺鼠疫可以在几天内致人死亡。但是，如果及早服用抗生素，这三种类型的鼠疫都能得到很好的治疗。根据我们目前掌握的信息，大多数专家并不是太担心。
Then why the sense of alarm?
那么，为什么会引起这种警觉呢？
The fact that Shipilova worked in a lab studying plague, which is supposed to have robust protections against the microbe escaping, is concerning.
希皮洛娃在一个研究鼠疫的实验室工作，该实验室本应拥有防止微生物逃逸的强大保护措施，所以这令人担忧。
The lack of details from the Russian authorities has unnerved many around the world who remain scarred by the Covid-19 pandemic. At that time, it was an authoritarian government in China, where the virus originated, that covered up information.
罗斯当局未透露详细信息，这让世界上许多仍对新冠大流行心有余悸的人感到不安。当时就是病毒发源地中国的威权政府掩盖了信息。
In the immediate aftermath of Shipilova’s death, Russian authorities were very terse. They failed to clarify her whereabouts before her death or to address questions about whether an accident had taken place at the institute.
在希皮洛娃死后的第一时间，俄罗斯当局的表态非常简短。他们没有澄清她死前的行踪，也没有回应有关研究所是否发生过事故的问题。
When health officials and the United States government began asking questions, the Russian authorities gave additional information. (On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was “incumbent” upon Russia to share more with the world. “We’re watching it very closely, hour by hour,” he said.)
当卫生官员和美国政府开始提出质疑时，俄罗斯当局提供了更多信息。（周三，美国国务卿鲁比奥表示，俄罗斯有“义务”与世界分享更多信息。“我们正在每时每刻地密切关注此事，”他说。）
Russia said yesterday that Shipilova had been vaccinated against the disease and no “emergency situations” had been identified at the lab. (One caveat: It’s not clear how effective the available vaccines are.)
俄罗斯昨天表示，希皮洛娃接种过该疾病的疫苗，并且实验室未发现“紧急情况”。（需要注意的一点是：目前可用的疫苗效力如何尚不清楚。）
Russia’s health regulator also said there are “no epidemiological risks for the population of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region.”
俄罗斯卫生监管机构还表示，“伊尔库茨克市及伊尔库茨克州居民不存在流行病学风险。”
伊尔库茨克的防瘟研究所。Has plague ever been used as a bioweapon?
鼠疫曾被用作生物武器吗？
Maybe — but it’s been a while. In the 14th century, according to one account, a Mongol army catapulted plague-infested bodies into the Crimean city of Caffa.
也许吧——但那是很久以前的事了。根据一种说法，在14世纪，一支蒙古军队用投石机将感染鼠疫的尸体投掷到克里米亚城市卡法。
In the modern era, a defector from the Soviet Union’s bioweapons program once claimed his government stockpiled “dozens of tons of smallpox and plague” that could be loaded onto bombs and missiles.
在现代，一位曾在苏联生物武器计划工作的叛逃者曾声称，苏联政府储存了“几十吨的天花和鼠疫”，可以装载到炸弹和导弹上。
The existence of an active biological weapons program in Russia, which has historically sourced strains from anti-plague institutes, has added to global concerns.
俄罗斯历史上曾从抗鼠疫研究所获取病原体菌株，该国目前仍存在活跃的生物武器计划，这加剧了全球的担忧。
In an annual threat assessment this year, U.S. intelligence agencies said Russian scientists were continuing to develop new chemical and biological weapons capabilities. The State Department, in its arms control compliance report last year, said Russia maintained an offensive biological warfare program in violation of the Biological Weapons Convention.
在今年的年度威胁评估中，美国情报机构表示，俄罗斯科学家正在继续开发新的化学和生物武器能力。美国国务院在去年的军备控制合规报告中表示，俄罗斯违反了《禁止生物武器公约》，维持着一项进攻性生物战计划。
So should I panic?
那么，我应该恐慌吗？
Based on what we know so far, no. For all the unknowns, experts say that even if plague were confirmed in Shipilova’s death, the risk of widespread contagion would be limited.
基于目前我们所知的情况，答案是否定的。尽管存在各种未知因素，但专家表示，即使在希皮洛娃的死因中确认了鼠疫，大范围传染的风险也是有限的。
