Plague epidemic risk in Russia low after death of lab technician, WHO says

World Health Organization detects no sign of further outbreak since Darya Shipilova died last week

The World Health Organization has said the risk of an epidemic in Russia is low after the sudden death of a lab technician who worked at a plague research institute in Siberia.

Darya Shipilova, who was 28, died last week, two days after falling ill. Russian media reports suggested she may have become infected after an accident at her workplace, where dangerous pathogens are kept and studied.

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Neolithic population collapse may have been caused by plague, researchers say

DNA studies suggest disease was central to devastating collapse of northern European population 5,000 years ago

A devastating population collapse that decimated stone age farming communities across northern Europe 5,000 years ago may have been driven by an outbreak of the plague, according to research.

The cause of the calamity, known as the Neolithic collapse, has long been a matter of debate.

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Teenage boy dies of plague in Mongolia after eating marmot

Two others being treated with antibiotics after death of 15-year-old, health ministry says

A 15-year-old boy has died of bubonic plague in western Mongolia after eating an infected marmot, the country’s health ministry has said.

Two other teenagers who also ate the marmot were being treated with antibiotics, said a ministry spokesperson, Narangerel Dorj.

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Mongolian couple die of bubonic plague after eating marmot

Six-day quarantine declared in region, preventing tourists from leaving

A Mongolian couple have died of the bubonic plague after eating raw marmot kidney, triggering a quarantine that left tourists stranded in a remote region for days.

The ethnic Kazakh couple died on 1 May in Mongolia’s westernmost province of Bayan-Ulgii, which borders Russia and China.

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