WASHINGTON — The White House is monitoring reports of a suspected plague case in Russia after a laboratory worker died in Siberia, an administration official told Axios. “The Trump administration is aware, monitoring the outbreak, and assessing options,” the official said, according to Axios.
The worker, Daria Shipilova, 28, was employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, which studies dangerous pathogens, in Russia’s Irkutsk region. According to local media reports cited by Axios and The Times of London, she broke a test tube containing the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague on September 25 while collecting samples. Russian health authorities have not confirmed that account.
She fell ill two days later, was hospitalized in the city of Shelekhov on September 29 with severe pneumonia, was placed on a ventilator and died overnight between October 1 and 2, according to reports.
Russian authorities have quarantined an entire hospital and placed nearly 200 people who had contact with Shipilova under medical observation. Regional Gov. Igor Kobzev referred to the illness only as a “dangerous infectious disease” and canceled all public events in the region. He said all identified contacts have been placed under medical observation, adding that as of Friday they showed no signs of illness and their laboratory tests had come back negative.
The head of the neighboring republic of Buryatia, Alexey Tsydenov, said the woman died “possibly from the plague” but added there were no plague outbreaks in his region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Russians not to listen to “rumours” about a plague outbreak, according to The Times.
Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Russian health officials have officially diagnosed the case only as pneumonia of unknown origin, and there is no confirmed outbreak and no evidence of widespread transmission.
