Trump says US ready to aid Russia with plague outbreak in Siberia

Russian authorities quarantine hospital, monitor 200 contacts after suspected pneumonic plague death in Siberia.President Donald Trump says the United States is ready to help Russia with a suspected pneumonic plague outbreak.“We are looking at it very strongly. We just heard about it,” Trump said, adding that he had not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about it but is prepared to offer US support.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Ebola death toll surpasses 4,000 as DR Congo struggles to suppress outbreaklist 2 of 3WHO warns of ‘devastating consequences’ due to delayed aid entry into Gazalist 3 of 3Russian lab worker dies of suspected plague in Siberia; US monitoring caseend of list“It’s a disease we used to be able to control,” Trump said. “Even with great advancement, the germs have really become relatively stronger than they were, and things that used to work on pneumonia don’t work anymore … anyone that has that kind of problem, we will help.”The World Health Organization (WHO) said based on unofficial information it has received, the “public health risk to the general population appears to be low”.Earlier on Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed the danger as well. “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,” Rubio said.Russian authorities have quarantined a hospital and are tracing the contacts of an employee at a plague research institute in the remote Siberian region of Irkutsk who died of a suspected pneumonic plague infection. Local media identified the employee as 28-year-old laboratory technician Darya Shipilova.Official details about the incident have been limited, and Russian media reports say authorities in Irkutsk have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation.On Sunday, Russia’s official TASS news agency reported that the country’s consumer protection agency, Rospotrebnadzor, said an employee at the Irkutsk-anti-plague-research-institute-of-Siberia-and-the-far-east" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="213762" data-entity-type="organization">Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown aetiology” or origin. The agency also said it had expanded sample testing from the patient and found no microorganisms associated with her work.