Trump calls reported Russia plague outbreak 'big problem' as US monitors suspected case
Trump says reported pneumonic plague outbreak is a 'big problem for Russia' as the US watches the situation closely; Moscow insists no plague has been confirmed.
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday described the suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Siberia as a “big problem for Russia”, adding that “the microbes and the germs have gotten stronger”, the New York Post reported.
“It’s a rough disease. You know, that’s a disease we used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes have got stronger and smarter, they’re like an army,” Trump told reporters on Monday afternoon, according to the Post. He offered US help — “we’ll help” — and said he had yet to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the matter.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is “watching and monitoring it closely”, while the State Department urged Moscow to “share accurate information quickly and openly”, per the Post. The Jerusalem Post reported the same monitoring remarks from Rubio on Monday.
The comments follow the death of Darya Shipilova, 28, a laboratory assistant at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, the Post reported. The independent Moscow Times reported she broke a test tube days before being hospitalised on September 29, and that she died of pneumonia on October 2, per the Post. Early Russian reports wrote that she had contracted pneumonia after breaking a vial of plague bacteria, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Sunday the worker was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology” and that no microorganisms linked to her work were found, the Jerusalem Post reported. Almost 200 contacts were placed under medical observation; tests found only two Covid-19 and two rhinovirus cases, according to the watchdog cited by the Post.
Buryatia governor Alexei Tsydenov first stated she had died from an unspecified form of plague, then modified his statement to say she had possibly died from the plague, the Jerusalem Post reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Russians to rely on Rospotrebnadzor’s report rather than “various rumours and speculation”, per the Jerusalem Post.
Sources
- https://nypost.com/2026/10/05/us-news/trump-calls-reported-pneumatic-plague-outbreak-big-problem-for-russia-the-microbes-and-the-germs-have-gotten-stronger/
- https://3news.com/news/world/russia-says-no-lab-breach-happened-as-lab-worker-dies-of-suspected-plague-nearly-200-contacts-under-observation
- https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-910720
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