Co-workers and friends of 28-year-old Russian lab technician Darya Shipilova, who died from pneumonia, say she became ill after travelling to Buryatia, near Russia's border with Mongolia, where she may have been exposed to squirrels that can carry plague bacteria. Hundreds of people who had contact with Shipilova were reportedly placed under quarantine after she told medical staff she had accidentally broken a test tube containing live bacteria at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia. Russian authorities have said Shipilova died from 'unidentified pneumonia'. Meanwhile, neighboring countries including Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have increased health checks at their borders amid reports linking the case to pneumonic plague. #russia #health #pneumonia