Trump to speak to Putin on plague as US steps up pressure

U.S. President Donald Trump has stated he will soon speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding a reported plague death of a laboratory technician, as Washington increases pressure on Moscow for transparency. Russian authorities have denied allegations of anti-plague measures and downplayed the reports of an incident at an anti-plague institute in the Siberian region of Irkutsk last week.

However, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has urged Russia to be forthcoming about the situation, encouraging them to share more information with the world to enable an appropriate response. Trump later confirmed he would be speaking with Putin about the incident, stating it would happen "very soon." The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. State Department had sent Russia a confidential diplomatic communication warning Moscow that failing to disclose details contravenes its international health obligations.

Russian media reported that the deceased woman, Darya Shipilova, may have contracted pneumonic plague from a broken test tube, and up to 200 people who may have had contact with her were under quarantine. Russian authorities, however, have stated the cause of death is not confirmed and that health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has denied claims of special measures being implemented.

A postmortem test did not detect the disease, and no microorganisms linked to the woman's professional work were found in her biological samples. The World Health Organization confirmed that no case of this dangerous disease has been recorded in Irkutsk, and they have launched an epidemiological investigation into a case of community-acquired pneumonia in the institution.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the risk of plague transmission is moderate to low based on the available information.