A young laboratory worker died after developing unexplained pneumonia. Her institute studies plague and other dangerous infections. Quarantines followed as conflicting accounts spread. The combination quickly produced a frightening question: Was the Russia Plague scare caused by a bioweapon leak?
No public evidence supports that conclusion. Russian authorities deny finding plague in her samples. Moscow told the World Health Organization that no cases have been detected in Irkutsk. The WHO considers the risk beyond Russia “very low.”
