What did Thomas Madden say about the Siberian plague lab death on Shawn Ryan?

Shawn Ryan raised reports that a 28-year-old technician at an anti-plague institute in Siberia died after breaking a test tube of plague, with about 200 contacts under observation. Thomas Madden said ordinary plague, including the pneumonic airborne form, responds to early antibiotics, so his concern would be a lab-modified, gain-of-function strain. He added that the same disease caused the Justinianic plague and the Black Death, which killed about half of Western Europe.

• Madden said the word quarantine comes from the Venetian quaranta, the 40 days the sick spent isolated on an island.
• Madden said plague reaching Europe was a sign of booming trade, since both outbreaks travelled along routes from China.
• The Justinianic plague of 542 depopulated Italy just after its reconquest, opening it to the Lombards.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Shawn Ryan Show (2026-11-02). Read the whole episode summary →

▸More from this episode