British psychic Craig Hamilton-Parker said in a video published on 24 September that he believed a future pandemic could involve a bacterial illness affecting the chest and lungs. The remarks have drawn renewed attention after Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old laboratory technician at Russia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, died following a severe pneumonia illness.
Russian authorities have not confirmed that Shipilova had plague or that a laboratory accident occurred. Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's consumer and public-health watchdog, said she died from pneumonia of unknown aetiology and that testing had found no microorganisms linked to her professional work. The agency also said it had found no evidence of an accident involving pathogenic microorganisms at the institute.
