Russia keeps a tight lid on suspected case of pneumonic plague as global concerns mount

Russian authorities are keeping a tight lid on information about last week's suspicious death of a lab worker in Siberia that has been surrounded by secrecy and claims that it could have been caused by pneumonic plague.While the case has raised global concerns, Russian state TV and other national state-controlled media have steered clear of the subject. Some state-sponsored news outlets withdrew earlier reports about the case, which has topped independent online news outlets.Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said Sunday the lab worker was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” meaning its origin was not known.In its official, tersely worded statements, it does not link the case to pneumonic plague, saying only that “extensive” testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.A state TV station in Irkutsk reported she died Oct. 2 in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk.Officials have quarantined a hospital and are monitoring the contacts of the worker, who died of what unconfirmed media reports said could have been pneumonic plagu...