Death of Siberian plague researcher spurs mass monitoring as Russia denies outbreak

The death of a 28-year-old researcher at a Siberian plague institute has triggered monitoring of hundreds of contacts, and Russia denies the death was plague-related.

• Darya Shipilova, 28, a researcher at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, died on October 2 of severe pneumonia; authorities have not established the cause.
• Russian authorities placed about 200 people who had contact with her under observation and ran thousands of tests, reporting no dangerous pathogens among them.
• Russia denied a second plague case, calling media reports of it inaccurate, and said the death was not linked to her work at the institute.
• The World Health Organization has asked Moscow to provide more information on the death and the results of tests conducted on the researcher and her contacts.