The State Department warned Americans in Russia Tuesday that it will have “limited ability to help” them amid a possible pneumonic plague outbreak in the eastern part of the country.
Russia was already subject to the department’s highest-level travel advisory since before the death of a 28-year-old plague research lab technician in Irkutsk, Siberia, over the weekend, which sparked fears that the deadly pathogen may be on the loose.
“The US Embassy is aware of press reports from the Irkutsk region of suspected pneumonic plague resulting in the death of an individual and of associated quarantine measures in, and closures of, hospitals in Irkutsk,” read a health alert issued by the American diplomatic outpost in Moscow. “We continue to track the situation closely.”
The embassy warned: “The US government has limited ability to help U.S. citizens in Russia, especially outside of Moscow. US government personnel may face additional restrictions for personal and official travel to specific regions due to health and security concerns.”
The State Department’s Level 4 Travel Advisory, which was imposed last December amid security concerns and risks of wrongful detention “remains in place and states US citizens currently in Russia should depart immediately,” the embassy noted.
“US citizens planning travel to Russia are again strongly advised not to travel to Russia.”
The health alert comes one day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the death of the Russian plague institute worker, Daria Shipilova, “cause for focus” but not alarm.
“We know what we know, obviously, about whatever the Russians have provided, which is, it seems that there was a worker at the lab that was infected, and this concern that could have spread, at least internally,” Rubio told reporters.
The top US diplomat noted that there’s already “very limited travel between the US and Russia … but like anything else, something like that gets out, it could certainly spread.”
Pneumonic plague can spread from person to person via the air and is almost always fatal if not treated quickly with antibiotics.
Several countries near eastern Russia, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have stepped up quarantine precautions and testing as a result of Shipilova’s death.
