Russian lab worker's plague death sparks quarantine in Siberia

A laboratory worker in Siberia died on October 2 after reportedly breaking a test tube containing plague bacteria, leading to the quarantine of nearly 200 people and closure of several hospitals. Russian authorities have denied a link between the death and a lab leak. The 28-year-old lab assistant, Darya Shipilova, fell ill days after allegedly smashing a tube with Yersinia pestis at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute. She was initially treated for suspected coronavirus before dying of pneumonia of unknown origin, with local doctors openly discussing plague. The institute, founded in 1934 for plague control, also monitors biological terrorism threats. The US State Department is tracking the case, while experts note pneumonic plague spreads person-to-person and lab-acquired infections, though rare, are not unknown.