Death of researcher at Russian plague laboratory ‘particularly concerning’: Birx

Dr. Deborah Birx, the former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said the death of a researcher working at a Russian lab studying the pneumonic plague was “concerning” to her.

“This is particularly concerning, and I know why the White House, State Department and CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] are very much aware and tracking” the situation, Birx told host Hena Doba on “NewsNation Prime” on Sunday.

A woman in her late 20s who worked at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East has died of pneumonia of unknown origin, multiple outlets reported, citing Rospotrebnadzor, a Russian health and consumer protection agency.

The research institute, located in Irkutsk Oblast, studies the pneumonic plague. Individuals with the disease develop fever, headache, weakness and a “rapidly developing” pneumonia characterized by shortness of breath, chest pain, cough and sometimes bloody or watery mucus, according to the CDC .

“Pneumonic plague develops when bacteria spread to the lungs of a patient with untreated bubonic or septicemic plague, or when a person inhales infectious droplets coughed out by another person or animal with pneumonic plague,” the health officials added.

A State Department official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, that the department is “aware” of the situation.

“We are monitoring the situation closely with the CDC and our other interagency partners,” the official added, before urging Russian authorities “to share accurate information quickly and openly.”

Birx said Sunday it would be “highly unusual” for someone in their 20s to die of pneumonic plague unless they had an “underlying condition.” The former U.S. special representative for global health diplomacy said a laboratory accident could have caused her to contract the pneumonic plague.

“And this woman traveled after exposure with pneumonic,” Birx noted. “The pneumonic plague means it’s in her lungs.”

“So she had it in her lungs. She traveled. She potentially could have exposed many people because that is then transmissible by droplet,” she continued. “So a lot of concerns and a lot of reasons for the Russians to be transparent.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the situation in Russia is not a “cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus,” noting there is “very limited” travel between the U.S. and Russia.