Trump offers to help Russia after Siberia plague institute death: ‘It’s a rough disease’
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The United States is prepared to offer assistance to Russia after a laboratory worker died at a plague research institute in Siberia, US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday at the White House.
Addressing reporters as he departed the White House for a trip to Nebraska, Trump described the outbreak as a "big problem for Russia." The laboratory worker had fallen ill and died under undisclosed circumstances, prompting authorities to quarantine dozens of people.
While news of the death generated public health fears across social media, Russian authorities insisted on Monday that the situation was under control. "Well, I hate to see them having it," Trump said. "It's a rough disease."
He stated that the US would do what it could to help Russia. Trump has said he considers Russian President Vladimir Putin someone whom he can work with, despite ongoing tensions over Russia's war against Ukraine. "We'll help," Trump said. "Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we're always will to help."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he doesn’t think there is cause for alarm, but the U.S. is watching the case closely, aware that “it could spread quickly” despite the quarantine and other public health protocols.
Russian authorities have quarantined a hospital and are monitoring contacts of the woman who died at the plague research institute.
Authorities said they found no evidence that her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with. But the case has raised alarm in Russia after unconfirmed media reports suggested she might have died of pneumonic plague — a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.
The woman worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Irkutsk, southeastern Siberia. A state TV station in Irkutsk reported Monday that she died last week in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk.
The hospital has been placed under quarantine, Mayor Maxim Modin said Friday, no longer admitting or discharging patients, and its laboratory halted carrying out routine tests. The hospital's outpatient clinic kept operating as usual, he said.
Anna Popova, head of Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, flew to Irkutsk and met with Gov. Igor Kobzev and other officials on Friday.
Kobzev said everyone who came into contact with the woman is under medical supervision. He didn’t identify the infection and called it a suspected case of “a particularly dangerous infection.”
Rospotrebnadzor was implementing “a full range of anti-epidemic measures,” he added.Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday the woman was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” or origin, and said “extensive” testing found “no microorganisms associated with the patient’s professional activities.”
The agency also said it didn't uncover any incidents at the institute “involving pathogenic microorganisms."
Independent local news outlet Lyudi Baikala quoted sources it did not identify as saying the 28-year-old lab technician died from pneumonic plague and that several Irkutsk hospitals were placed under quarantine.
Asked Monday to comment on the case, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the public and media should follow official statements from Rospotrebnadzor, rather than "rumors or speculation.”Rospotrebnadzor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
