Russian plague lab worker's death raises questions as officials cite pneumonia

Russia is downplaying concerns over the death of a 28-year-old female scientist at a Siberian plague lab, initially reported as a lab accident exposing her to plague bacteria. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged the public to trust official information from health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, which attributed the death to "pneumonia of unknown origin." The researcher, Darya Shipilova, worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute and died on Oct. 1 after reportedly breaking a test tube containing yersinia pestis, the bacterium behind bubonic and pneumonic plague. Russian officials initially warned locals not to visit the town where she was hospitalized, but later deleted those posts and said no accident occurred, with nearly 200 contacts testing negative for dangerous pathogens. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the reports warrant focus but not alarm, citing limited travel between the U.S. and Russia. The plague bacterium historically caused the Black Death in the 1300s, killing tens of millions, though pneumonic plague can spread person-to-person.