A 28-year-old worker at Siberia's anti-plague institute died of pneumonia — and fears she caught pneumonic plague at work set off global alarms. Russia denies a second illness; the WHO says it still doesn't know how she died and wants answers.
Known: a young lab worker is dead. Unknown: almost everything else — exposure, strain, transparency. Moscow's denials land in a credibility vacuum of its own making.
Plague is treatable with antibiotics when caught; the danger is secrecy, not science. The real contagion here is distrust.
Sources: CBC News. Context from the Young Hadene newsroom.
Unconfirmed — Russia denies it; WHO says it lacks answers.
No confirmed spread; watchdogs want transparency.