Possible pneumonic plague in Russia

I think I would be derelict as a doomer blogger if I didn't pass along PBS NewsHour's What to know about pneumonic plague after Russian lab worker's death.

The U.S. is closely monitoring a potential case of pneumonic plague in Russia after a laboratory worker who studied the disease fell ill and died. Russian authorities insist there is no cause for alarm, but officials have imposed quarantines and other measures at several medical facilities in Siberia. Geoff Bennett discussed more with Annie Jacobsen, author of "Biological War: A Scenario."

I dismissed "the Wuhan lab-leak hypothesis" for COVID-19 as "a conspiracy theory...based on xenophobia, partisan wishful thinking, and a questionable intelligence report not supported by scientists." Here, I think it's actually a possibility, as does Annie Jacobson, who also appears in Russia plague lab death ‘doesn’t add up’: What doctors know so far on CNN.

A 28-year-old lab researcher at a Russian institute dedicated to studying plague and dangerous pathogens died of pneumonia of an “unknown” origin. The Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute operates in Siberia, where several other people are quarantined. Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian agency that oversees infectious disease, has downplayed the link between the researcher’s death and her work, but the case has prompted questions about the type of plague that causes pneumonia.

Pneumonic plague is a rare, deadly lung infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Scientists consider pneumonic plague the most dangerous form of the infection. CNN speaks to medical experts on the researchers death and if there should be greater concern.

While the connection between the victim and her workplace is suggestive, this may not be plague at all and that a worker at a plague lab fell ill and died may be coincidence. Just the same, the FSB doesn't appear to be taking any chances, putting 200 people in quarantine. Here's to this not being the opening scene in The Stand. One pandemic was enough.