Research lab
Russian research institute in Siberia's Irkutsk region that studies plague and other dangerous infections.
Russia quarantined about 200 contacts of a 28-year-old who died at an Irkutsk plague institute, but the cause of death remains unconfirmed. Devi Sridhar argues in a Guardian column that the case shows preparedness depends on transparency as much as laboratory skill.
Reality
Rospotrebnadzor ended its quarantine on 7 October and freed most of the nearly 200 people held over a lab worker's death, after tests found no dangerous pathogen. What killed 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, and why the response far exceeded plague protocol, remains unexplained.
Reality
WHO and the US government are pressing Russia for epidemiological data after a researcher at an Irkutsk plague lab died, possibly of pneumonic plague. Biosecurity specialist Gregory Koblentz calls the epidemic risk minimal because antibiotics treat plague; what worries him is the secrecy.
Reality
The WHO said on Wednesday it cannot assess the risk from a suspected plague death in Siberia because Russia has not shared a full picture. Officials deny the worker's institute is involved while placing that same lab under quarantine.
Reality
Russia's Irkutsk region put nearly 200 contacts under observation after a 28-year-old lab worker died of pneumonic plague, independent outlets report. Because the pathogen is treatable and spreads poorly, the open question is how the accident got past the lab's biosafety.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishersReality
Russian authorities put about 200 people under observation after a plague-lab technician died of what officials call pneumonia of unknown cause. The response is sized for plague, and how fast it unwinds as contacts test negative will say more than the edited statements.
Reality