Trump says he’ll call Putin ‘very soon’ about suspected Russian plague case

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he has scheduled a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin “very soon” to discuss the suspected pneumonic plague outbreak in Siberia.Trump previously said the United States is “willing to help” Russia contain any possible outbreak of the plague, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has emphasized there is no cause for alarm as the U.S. monitors the situation.The president spoke with reporters before attending an event in Maryland and was asked about the conversations happening at intelligence agencies as nearly 200 Russians were placed in quarantine following the death of Daria Shipilova, a lab technician at Russia’s Anti-Plague Institute in Siberia. “We’re in very deep discussions,” Trump said. “We’ll be able to report about it probably tomorrow.”Shipilova, 28, reportedly died of “pneumonia of unknown etiology” last week, and a town near the capital of Irkutsk was put on lockdown shortly after. Some reports claimed that Shipilova said she fell ill after accidentally breaking a vial of Yersinia pestis, but Russian authorities have dismissed the idea that an incident had occurred at the facility. The incident sparked concerns that Shipilova died from the pneumonic plague, but there has been no confirmation of such suspicion.No reports or evidence suggest that the lab Shipilova was working at was conducting bioweapons research, as most instances of laboratory biosecurity-related incidents have revolved around Russia previously.The governor of the Irkutsk Oblast region of Siberia, Igor Kobzev, said on Monday that no other workers from Shipilova’s lab have sought medical attention and emphasized that the situation is under control.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday it is monitoring the situation in Russia, but emphasized there is “no indication of a broader threat” to the U.S.Trump maintains a friendly relationship with Putin and said he “hates” seeing Russia struggle with the possibility of an outbreak.“That’s a disease we used to be able to control, but somehow those microbes got stronger and smarter than like an army,” he said of the pneumonic plague, adding that “we’ll help anybody that has that kind of a problem.”RUSSIAN RESEARCHER WHO STUDIED PLAGUE DIED OF MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS: WHAT TO KNOWPneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by Yersinia pestis, the same bacteria responsible for bubonic plague. The disease can spread from person to person through respiratory droplets after close contact with an infected person.Pneumonic plague is rare, and outbreaks can generally be contained through prompt diagnosis, treatment of patients, and preventative antibiotics for people who have had close exposure, according to the CDC.