Donald Trump will discuss the alleged plague case in Russia with Vladimir Putin by phone

American President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, at the White House, that he intends to discuss the death of a researcher from Siberia with Vladimir Putin “very soon”; in her case, the possibility of an infection with pneumonic plague was raised.

Daria Shipilova, 28, worked at the Research Institute for Plague Control in Irkutsk. She fell ill at the end of September and died on October 2, after being admitted to a nearby hospital. Russian authorities attributed the death to “pneumonia of unknown etiology” and denied any connection with her laboratory work.

The case became controversial after contradictory statements by officials and unconfirmed information about a possible incident involving a container that allegedly contained the pathogen. Russia denied that any such accident had occurred.

The World Health Organization is investigating the circumstances of the death, the test results, and the laboratory investigations. Russia informed the WHO that no cases of plague had been identified in Irkutsk. Approximately 190–200 people who had come into contact with the researcher were placed under medical observation, and tests for dangerous pathogens were negative.