The White House is  aware  of a suspected plague outbreak in Russia and is  monitoring the situation  after a young lab worker was killed and some 200 others reportedly forced into quarantine, an official said.

Daria Shipilova, a 28-year-old researcher at an anti-plague research institute in Russia's eastern Irkutsk region, reportedly died after breaking a test tube containing the plague pathogen, although Russian officials have refused to say whether or not she contracted the disease.

The Trump administration  is aware, monitoring the outbreak, and assessing options,  an official told Axios.

4 Daria Shipilova a laboratory assistant at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, in Irkutsk. She reportedly died after she broke a test tube containing the plague pathogen. Daria Shipilova/e2w

4 The Irkutsk anti-plague institute leads a plague-response drill at the Russia-Mongolia border crossing in April 2026. Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute/e2w

Shipilova was hospitalized in Shelekhov on Tuesday with symptoms of severe pneumonia, placed on a ventilator and then died Thursday, according to reports.

Authorities additionally quarantined an entire hospital and placed scores of people who had come into contact with her under medical observation. However, none of the identified contacts showed symptoms, and their test results have come back negative.

Regional Gov. Igor Kobzev declined to identify the illness, referring to it only as  a dangerous infectious disease  but canceled all public events in the region.

4 Anti-plague lab worker Daria Shipilova, 28, who died from pneumonia of an unknown cause, is shown in Russia in this undated photo. Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute/e2w

Russia's public health agency, meanwhile, only said Shipilova had  pneumonia of unknown etiology  and that further testing found no microorganisms linked to her work, according to Axios. Agency officials said that the situation in the region is stable.

Shipilova, who fell ill while on an expedition with other researchers near Russia's eastern border with Mongolia, reportedly told medical staff

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