Russia Plague Scare: Trump To Discuss Possible Pneumonic Plague Case With Putin

US President Donald Trump has said he has a call scheduled with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” to discuss a possible case of pneumonic plague in Russia, after a 28-year-old laboratory worker at an anti-plague research institute died of severe pneumonia. However, Russia has not confirmed that the woman had the plague, and the World Health Organization (WHO) currently considers the risk outside Russia to be very low.

Darya Shipilova, an employee at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, died on October 2 at a hospital in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk. Russian health authorities have described her illness as pneumonia of unknown aetiology and denied finding evidence that it was caused by pathogens handled at her workplace.

The scare was fuelled by reports that Shipilova may have contracted pneumonic plague after a laboratory accident involving a test tube. That account remains unconfirmed. Around 200 people who had contact with her were initially placed under medical observation, although authorities said no plague infections had been detected among them and around 60 per cent had subsequently been released.

Trump said the US was in “very deep discussions” about the case and that more information could be reported soon. He had earlier offered US assistance, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Moscow to share more information with the international community.

The concern centres on pneumonic plague, the rarest and most severe form of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Unlike bubonic plague, it can spread between people through respiratory droplets. It can become fatal quickly if untreated, but antibiotics can successfully treat plague when administered promptly.

For now, there is no confirmed evidence of a wider outbreak in Russia. The WHO has said the risk is moderate to low in Irkutsk, low for Russia overall and very low for the broader region. Contacts identified by Russian authorities have reportedly been monitored without signs of further illness.

India therefore has no reason for immediate alarm. However, the country has experienced pneumonic plague before. In 1994, an outbreak centred on Surat in Gujarat spread to several states and Delhi, with more than 1,000 suspected cases and over 50 deaths reported.

The situation would become significantly more concerning if Russia confirms Yersinia pestis as the cause of Shipilova’s death or establishes sustained human-to-human transmission. Until then, experts say the case should be treated as a serious but unconfirmed public-health incident rather than evidence of a new international plague outbreak.