Plague kills lab worker in Siberia's Irkutsk region; 200 quarantined

A woman has died of plague in Siberia's Irkutsk region, a regional official confirmed Friday, prompting quarantine measures for up to 200 contacts amid concerns of a pneumonic infection. The deceased, identified by local media as 28-year-old laboratory technician Darya Shipilova, worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute and may have contracted the disease from a broken test tube. The "People of Baikal" outlet reported the quarantine, though Russian health authorities have not officially confirmed the details. Pneumonic plague, caused by bacteria, is highly infectious and can be fatal without early treatment, according to the World Health Organization. The case was first reported by Buryatia's governor, Alexei Tsydenov, in a social media post.