US 'watching closely' after plague researcher dies in Russia, Rubio says

US 'watching closely' after plague researcher dies in Russia, Rubio says US officials are paying close attention following the death of a plague researcher in Russia, Senator Marco Rubio noted. The researcher, identified by Russian media as Daria and described as being in her early twenties, had recently traveled to the Buryatia region near the Mongolian border. Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for plague, is known to have caused the Black Death that devastated up to half of Europe’s population in the 14th century. It persists today among rodents such as marmots in that area. The Anti‑Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East, which traces its origins to a response to a 1920s outbreak, was established roughly a century ago. Dr Simon Clarke, a lecturer in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, spoke on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme about the risks. He said, "Pneumonic plague tin transmit from idiosyncratic to idiosyncratic and that is wherefore determination is the interest astir this," helium said. He added, "But of people people's thought with immoderate outbreak of infectious illness astatine each runs to... lockdowns and Covid and that is conscionable not what's going to hap here." Clarke also remarked, "People think, 'Oh the plague, that's gone, that went hundreds of years ago,' but it hasn't," and noted, "It's inactive astir and successful definite parts of the world, it's a menace to quality wellness and that's wherefore they request to survey it." When asked whether the pathogen might have been examined for possible use as a biological weapon, the individual agreed that such a scenario is possible. Clarke added, "Because this is Russia people's thoughts are moving to that,