New Delhi, Oct. 11 -- India has put its national laboratory network on alert and reviewed stocks of essential antibiotics, including tetracyclines used to treat plague, following reports of a laboratory worker's death in Russia's Siberia region after suspected exposure to a pathogen, according to two government officials familiar with the matter.

The Union health ministry's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), which coordinates early detection and outbreak response across districts, is monitoring the situation. Diagnostic facilities under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and state-level reference laboratories have also been alerted to maintain readiness and follow standard containment protocols, officials said....