At the center of Russia’s plague scare, residents ‘don’t trust’ officials – but have little other choice

Six days after the news broke – and with no official confirmation that Shipilova died of plague, amid calls from the World Health Organization and the United States for more information – the situation appears to have prompted both resignation and skepticism.” An unnamed Russian clinician who spoke to independent news outlet Lyudi Baikala (“People of Baikal”), which has led the way on coverage of the case, was unconvinced, though, by the Russian health watchdog’s statement that the lab worker’s illness was “unrelated to her professional activities.

So, while the sudden death of 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, a lab technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, sparked concern around the world, residents of the quiet town 12 miles southwest of Irkutsk told CNN they knew little more than the news – and rumors – spreading fast online.