Russian officials have said that pneumonic plague has not been detected in the close contacts of an anti-plague laboratory worker who died in Siberia last week. The country's consumer and health watchdog stated that 60% of the identified group have been tested so far after the death of a female staffer at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East.
Darya Shipilova, 28, was found to have died from "pneumonia of undetermined" origin after being identified by her mother and Russian media, it is claimed. Watchdog Rospotrebnadzor claimed testing identified two cases of Covid-19 and two of rhinovirus infection, the virus that causes the common cold. It added that "no other infectious disease pathogens were detected among the contacts" and did not make any mention of plague.
Contact tracing details
Speaking about the contact tracing work done, the watchdog said: "This included identifying the widest possible circle of individuals who had been in contact with the patient and arranging for them to be placed under medical observation in hospital with daily laboratory tests."
Regional and national Russian authorities have also not confirmed whether plague was involved in her death, though a US State Department spokesperson said there had been "reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague" in Irkutsk oblast. A State Department official told NBC News that health officials at the department had been in contact with the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Trump and Rubio respond
Donald Trump also revealed he has a call scheduled with Vladimir Putin to discuss the pneumonic plague. Asked on Tuesday whether he'd spoken with his Russian counterpart, he said he had a "call scheduled" and that it would take place "very soon".
The US President previously said he was willing to help Russia tackle the "rough disease". He added: "I hate to see them having it. Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we’re always willing to help."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russia to share more information regarding the potential public health issue, and asked the public not to jump to conclusions. He said: "Maybe, you know, there’s nothing there. Maybe it’s bigger than we thought. We don’t know. But I think it would be reckless at this moment, given the limited information we still have, to speculate about what this might or might not be or what this is or what this isn’t."
CDC monitoring
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also said it was aware of the issue and is monitoring reports of the death, which it called "a suspected case of pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region of Russia". It wrote on X: "At this time, there is no indication of a broader threat to the United States, but CDC and our interagency partners are prepared and will continue to monitor the situation closely."
