A laboratory technician at Russia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute has died, and nearly 200 people are under medical observation after a reported accident involving a test tube containing plague bacteria.
What happened
A 28-year-old technician, identified as Darya Shipilova, was hospitalized with severe pneumonia after accidentally breaking a test tube of live Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague. She died on October 1. Five hospitals in the region have been placed under quarantine, and workers at a nearby aluminum plant have been ordered to wear masks as a precaution.
According to reports, 197 people who may have come into contact with Shipilova have been identified, and 189 of them have been hospitalized for observation. So far, no secondary cases have been confirmed. The official cause of Shipilova's death is disputed, with the Kremlin's health agency attributing it to
