Plague outbreak in Russia? Hundreds quarantined after death of lab researcher

A 28-year-old researcher at an anti-plague institute in Siberia has died of severe pneumonia, prompting Russian authorities to place nearly 200 people under medical observation and impose precautionary measures. But authorities have not confirmed that plague was involved.Russia’s public-health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, has reportedly described the illness as pneumonia of unknown cause and said no microorganisms linked to the researcher’s professional work were detected in her body.The case has nevertheless fuelled questions about what happened inside the laboratory and whether Russian authorities have been fully transparent about it. The researcher, identified in reports as Darya Shipilova, was admitted to hospital on September 29 after developing severe pneumonia. She was placed on a ventilator but died two days later.According to the Daily Mail, Shipilova had been working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute and told medical staff that she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria.