Russia plague death: WHO says spread risk very low

A suspected case of pneumonic plague in Russia has prompted a World Health Organization assessment that the risk of international spread is "very low," as Russian authorities investigate the death of a lab employee in Siberia. The woman worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, which studies dangerous pathogens, and died at a hospital in Shelekhov, where quarantine was placed. Russian officials reported tracing all contacts, with no dangerous pathogens found, and said the epidemiological situation is stable. Experts say plague bacteria do not spread easily and are treatable with antibiotics, unlike the virus causing COVID-19. The WHO noted the woman's illness initially presented as a typical respiratory infection, and no plague case has been confirmed in Irkutsk.