# White House says it is monitoring suspected plague outbreak in Russia

https://mins.news/en/item/86062

- Meduza, 2026-10-05 08:02 UTC
- Health
- Original: https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/10/05/white-house-says-it-s-monitoring-reports-of-plague-in-russia-assessing-options

> A White House official said the Trump administration is aware of a suspected plague outbreak in Russia’s Irkutsk region and is monitoring it while “assessing options.” An employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute died in Shelekhov. Unconfirmed reports said she had pneumonic plague, while Rospotrebnadzor attributed the death to “pneumonia of unknown origin.” Several Irkutsk hospitals have imposed a three-week quarantine.

## Related coverage

- [Lab worker ‘possibly’ dies of plague in Siberia, prompting quarantine measures](https://mins.news/en/item/86278) — The Guardian, 2026-10-05
- [Russian lab worker dies in suspected plague case, hospital quarantines: report](https://mins.news/en/item/86162) — TRT World, 2026-10-05
- [Russian lab worker dies of suspected plague in Siberia; US monitoring case](https://mins.news/en/item/85892) — Al Jazeera, 2026-10-05
- [Employee of Russia anti-plague institute diagnosed with ‘pneumonia’](https://mins.news/en/video/85780) — ABC News, 2026-10-05
