White House Monitors Russian Plague Outbreak, 'Assessing Options'

The White House is monitoring a plague outbreak in Russia after a lab technician died and hundreds of people she came into contact with were placed in quarantine, an administration official confirmed Sunday. The official told Axios that the administration is "aware, monitoring the outbreak, and assessing options."

Outbreak Details

Darya Shipilova, 28, reportedly died from pneumonic plague in Siberia after allegedly breaking a test tube containing live bacteria while working at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. She became ill during a field expedition with colleagues in Buryatia and was admitted to a hospital on September 29, placed on a ventilator, and died two days later.

Shipilova had contact with approximately 200 people, who are now under observation. Three hospitals in the region have been placed under secure measures, and a mask mandate has been implemented.

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev stated that those being monitored have shown no signs of illness and have tested negative for the disease, according to The Moscow Times. The hospital where Shipilova was treated is among the facilities under quarantine, with others housing individuals who had contact with her.

Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection with symptoms including fever, shortness of breath, and coughing up blood, typically appearing three to seven days after exposure. While the fatality rate can be reduced to around 17 percent with prompt antibiotic treatment, the disease is almost always fatal if left untreated.

Questions Surrounding the Incident

There are claims that Russian authorities may be attempting to obscure the circumstances of the incident. Reports suggest that drugs for treating the disease are in short supply in the region, leading to concerned residents seeking medical supplies.

Mikhail Favorov, a senior Russian epidemiologist, dismissed the broken test tube explanation as improbable, noting that personnel at such institutes typically wear protective gear and that the infection risk from a broken test tube is low. "It's absolutely hair-raising. We will not be told what really happened," Favorov commented.

Pneumonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and can be transmitted through airborne droplets. Other forms of plague include septicemic plague, resulting from flea bites or contact with infected animals, and bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, spread by flea bites and characterized by swollen lymph nodes.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House, the State Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for comment.