The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on October 7 that it is "aware of and closely monitoring" a suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Russia, after health officials sealed off a hospital in the Irkutsk region following the death of Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old woman who worked at an anti-plague laboratory in Siberia.
According to the CDC, the cases tied to the incident have not been fully confirmed, but plague is a serious bacterial disease that can be treated with antibiotics, especially if it is detected and addressed early. The agency stressed the importance of "rapidly identifying and treating infected people," adding that the situation currently poses little risk to the United States.
The CDC statement came after the administration of President Donald Trump said it was "closely monitoring" developments and Russia insisted the situation was under control. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressed Moscow the same day to provide more information about Shipilova's death.
"I think Russia needs to share more information with the world," Rubio told reporters in Iceland, saying Washington had ways to help if the situation worsened but needed a clearer picture before intervening.
For its part, Russia has released very few details surrounding Shipilova's death. Authorities have quarantined a hospital in the Irkutsk region and are tracing people who came into contact with the laboratory worker. Russian media reported that authorities had placed nearly 200 people under medical observation.
Commenting on the incident, Dr. Ashish Jha, who coordinated the COVID-19 response under former U.S. President Joe Biden, said it was unlikely that Shipilova was the only person with pneumonic plague. "That would be great," he wrote on X, "but given the context and history, assuming that would be unwise." He also called on Russia to be more transparent, stressing the need to understand exactly what happened and to factor in the possibility that the full truth is not yet known.
Pneumonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which typically lives in small mammals and the fleas that parasitize them. According to the World Health Organization, the disease is highly infectious through respiratory droplets and can be fatal if not treated early.
