America is keeping an eye on the death of Russian lab technician, fear of spread of plague

US President Donald Trump has said the US is taking "very seriously" the case of a Russian lab technician who died at a plague research center in Siberia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington is keeping a close eye on this matter. He said that there is a possibility that pneumonic plague may spread due to this incident, but there is no reason to panic.

The governor of Russia's Irkutsk region said the cause of death was "pneumonia of unknown cause." He said "any microorganisms" linked to the woman's work had not been found in her "biological samples".

Unconfirmed reports say the woman fell ill either when she broke a test tube full of the pathogen or because she returned from an area where plague is naturally occurring in rats.

When Trump was asked what America was going to do about the risk of plague spreading from Russia, he said that it had not talked to Russia about it.

He said, "I don't like to see this problem happening there. We will help. Whoever has this kind of problem, we will always help."

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev, citing Russia's consumer and health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said there were no reports of any other plague institute employee going to a hospital or doctor for treatment after the lab technician's death.

The monitoring organization said that the biosecurity team inspected the Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk and confirmed that there was no emergency situation there.

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appealed to people not to pay attention to rumors and trust the official statement of Rospotrebnadzor.

Russian media had reported last week that about 200 people who came in contact with the dead woman have been kept under medical observation as a precaution.

When a reporter asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the latest updates on a suspected plague case in Russia, he said, "It appears that a worker in the lab was infected and the concern is that it could spread at least within the lab."

He said, "If something like this gets out, it can spread rapidly. So we are keeping a close eye on it and monitoring it. I don't think it is a reason to panic, but it is definitely a reason to pay attention and keep an eye on it, and we are doing that."

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Russian media has given the first name of the deceased woman as Daria. His age was around 20 years. Recently Daria visited the Buryatia area bordering Mongolia.

The plague bacterium, or Yersinia pestis, killed nearly half of Europe's population in the 14th century. At that time it was known as Black Death. This bacteria is found in rats like marmot in the Buryatia region of Mongolia.

The Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East was established following the outbreak of plague in the 1920s.

Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, told BBC Radio 4's PM program that pneumonic Yersinia pestis is almost always fatal if not treated, but can be treated with antibiotics.

He said, "Pneumonic plague can spread from one person to another and that is why there is concern about it."

He said, "But certainly after hearing the news of outbreak of any infectious disease, things like lockdown and Covid come to people's mind, whereas this is not going to happen here."

"People think, 'Oh, the plague, it's gone, it's gone hundreds of years ago,' but that's not the case," Clark said.

He said, "It still exists and in some parts of the world it is a threat to human health and that is why it is important to study it."

When the scientist was asked whether this pathogen could be studied for possible use as a biological weapon, he admitted that it was possible.

Clark said, "Because it happened in Russia, people's attention is going in that direction, but I think my earlier explanation is more accurate."

We used AI to translate this article, which was originally written in English. A BBC journalist checked this translation before publication. Learn more about how we're using AI.