The United States and World Health Organization are seeking more information after a Russian laboratory worker died from pneumonia of unknown origin at a plague research institute in Siberia.
US President Donald Trump said he would speak very soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the reported death of a laboratory technician at a plague research institute. Washington is showing growing concern about the situation and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called on Russia to provide more information about what happened.
Rubio said during a trip to Iceland that Russia should share more information so that the international community can understand the situation. The US State Department also sent Russia a formal diplomatic message known as a demarche urging Moscow to meet its international health reporting obligations.
Russian media identified the woman who died as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova. One unconfirmed report claimed she may have been exposed after dropping a test tube containing live bacteria but Russian health authorities rejected that account. There is no public evidence confirming that the reported accident occurred.
About 200 people who had contact with Shipilova were initially placed under quarantine or medical observation. Russian authorities later said no plague cases had been detected among her contacts and many of those being monitored were released. The health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor also denied reports that an uncontrolled plague outbreak was under way.
Russian officials said Shipilova died of pneumonia of undetermined origin. Irkutsk Regional Governor Igor Kobzev said no microorganisms connected to her professional work were found in her biological samples. No other staff members at the institute had sought medical attention since her death according to Kobzev.
The World Health Organization said there was a moderate to low risk for Irkutsk based on the available information. It assessed the risk as low for Russia overall and very low for the rest of Europe. WHO also stressed that timely and complete information sharing is essential to accurately assess public health risks.
The agency said Russia had launched an epidemiological investigation into a case of pneumonia involving an employee of the Irkutsk institute. Russian authorities told WHO that tests showed no dangerous infectious disease pathogens among people who had contact with Shipilova. It remained unclear whether plague had been definitively ruled out as the cause of her own illness.
Trump had earlier said he was ready to help Russia if needed. In response Russian health authorities said Moscow was prepared to help the United States with its own infectious disease problems. They pointed to measles outbreaks in the United States and a fatal plague case reported in New Mexico in June.
The United States had reported 3,887 confirmed measles cases in 2026 as of October 1. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. serves as health secretary in the Trump administration and has long faced criticism over his past statements questioning vaccines.
Plague is a bacterial disease that can occur in several forms including pneumonic plague which can spread through respiratory particles. Bubonic plague is usually transmitted through infected fleas and can become deadly without prompt treatment. Antibiotics are effective when the disease is identified and treated early.
Trump later said he had a call scheduled with Putin about what happened at the laboratory in Siberia. He said US intelligence agencies were closely involved and that more information could become available soon. Rubio said the United States was monitoring the situation closely.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was aware of the case and was closely monitoring developments. The agency said the reported incident posed little risk to the United States and that federal partners were prepared to continue monitoring the situation.
The US government has not confirmed that Shipilova’s death was linked to plague or to an accident involving her laboratory work.
IMAGE: Церемония фотографирования лидеров экономик форума АТЭС. С Президентом США Дональдом Трампом.. Photo: Kremlin.ru / Wikimedia, taken 2017-11-10, CC BY 4.0