WHO seeks answers from Russia after lab worker's plague-linked death in Siberia

A senior World Health Organization official said Wednesday the UN agency does not know how a laboratory worker in Siberia died amid concerns about plague, and called on Russia to provide more information. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s epidemics director, said the agency does not know the "causative agent" behind the woman's death on October 2. Russia's public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor did not link the case to pneumonic plague, stating comprehensive tests found no evidence her illness was caused by any pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. Russia said she died of pneumonia, and WHO acknowledged no recent plague cases were detected. WHO's statements suggest it has more questions than answers about the situation at the plague-focused laboratory, founded about a century ago. Russian authorities have imposed strict information controls over the suspicious death, which has been shrouded in secrecy with unconfirmed speculation it may have been caused by pneumonic plague.