U.S. watching Russian lab death over contagious plague fears

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Oct. 5 the U.S. is watching closely after Daria Shipilova, 28, a technician at Siberia's Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute, died amid fears pneumonic plague — a lung infection that spreads between people like a cold — spread. No alarm, he said, but focus and monitoring. Next steps depend on lab results not yet shared.