SECOND DEATH REPORTED AS QUESTIONS GROW OVER RUSSIA’S SUSPECTED PLAGUE INCIDENT The story we have been following in Siberia may be widening. A second person has reportedly died at a hospital in Russia’s Irkutsk region amid continuing fears of a possible pneumonic-plague incident. The death has not been independently confirmed, and Russian authorities have not […]

SECOND DEATH REPORTED AS QUESTIONS GROW OVER RUSSIA’S SUSPECTED PLAGUE INCIDENT

The story we have been following in Siberia may be widening.

A second person has reportedly died at a hospital in Russia’s Irkutsk region amid continuing fears of a possible pneumonic-plague incident. The death has not been independently confirmed, and Russian authorities have not identified the person or acknowledged any connection to plague.

This follows the October 2 death of 28-year-old laboratory worker Darya Shipilova, who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute. Russian officials attributed her death to pneumonia of unknown origin while denying that an outbreak exists.

Moscow has now told the World Health Organization that no plague cases have been recorded and that testing of Shipilova’s contacts found no dangerous pathogens. But it remains unclear whether plague was conclusively ruled out in Shipilova herself.

One reported death was enough to trigger quarantines and international monitoring. A possible second death does not prove an outbreak—but it makes full transparency from Russian authorities even more urgent.

For now, this remains an unconfirmed and rapidly developing report.