Researcher dies after plague infection

CHICAGO, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A University of Chicago genetics professor has died after contracting an infection linked to the plague, officials say.

Malcolm Casadaban, 60, died Sept. 13 at the university's Bernard Mitchell Hospital, university hospital officials told Sunday's Chicago Tribune, adding there "does not appear to be a threat to the public."

University officials said no one that Casadaban had contact with has reported any illnesses. They said he was studying the origins of the plague, and when he contracted the infection was working with a weakened laboratory strain that lacked the true plague bacteria's most harmful elements, the newspaper reported.

The Tribune said his Web page indicated that Casadaban held degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.