Death of Russian plague researcher

The death of a 28-year-old worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute is still officially attributed to natural causes, with Russian authorities insisting her contacts tested negative for pneumonic plague and dismissing online claims of a second case or cover-up as "false information." The WHO continues to rate public health risk as low for Russia and very low for Europe, while the victim's mother maintains she knows "the truth" about her daughter's death. US officials have taken precautionary measures amid lingering doubts, and scrutiny has widened to the broader network of Russian anti-plague research institutes where such work is conducted.