U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio affirmed that the White House is monitoring reports of the plague-related death of a Russian laboratory worker and the subsequent quarantines following the incident.
“I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it,” Secretary Rubio said.
Russian Anti-Plague Researcher Dies Of "Unknown Origin"
According to Russia’s health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, on Oct. 2, 2026, Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old lab technician at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia, died after being diagnosed with a pneumonia of “unknown” origin.
On Sept. 25, 2026, Shipilova reportedly broke a test tube containing the pneumonic plague pathogen and was admitted to a local hospital in the town of Shelekov on Sept. 29 after developing symptoms of severe pneumonia, local reports said.
Despite local reports, officials have yet to confirm the account publicly, with Russian politicians and authorities offering “conflicting reports” on whether the plague was a contributor to Shipilova’s death.
Authorities Impose "Anti-Epidemic Measures"
Since Shipilova’s death, regional authorities have implemented a “comprehensive set of anti-epidemic measures,” Maxim Modin, the mayor of the Shelekhovsky district, said.
Authorities imposed quarantines at multiple medical facilities in the region, additionally placing roughly 200 individuals who had come into contact with the researcher under medical observation.
World Health Org & Other Officials Assess Public Health Risk Is Low
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that it held talks with the Russian health authorities to “verify the event, its circumstances, the laboratory tests underway, and their results.”
“Based on unofficial information available, the public health risk to the general population appears to be low,” the WHO announced.
According to a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, despite the pneumonic plague’s danger, it is not as easily transmissible as COVID-19.
Additionally, a former head of Rospotrebnadzor said that the infection is “most likely not the plague, but even if confirmed, there will be no spread of the disease.”
