The State Department warned Americans in Russia on Tuesday that it would have a “limited ability to help” them amid concerns over a possible pneumonic plague outbreak in the country’s east.
Russia was already under the department’s highest-level travel advisory before the weekend death of a 28-year-old plague research laboratory technician in Irkutsk, Siberia. The death has fueled fears that the potentially deadly pathogen could have spread.
In a health alert, the US Embassy in Moscow said it was aware of media reports about suspected pneumonic plague in the Irkutsk region, the death of an individual and related quarantine measures and hospital closures in the city. “We continue to track the situation closely,” the embassy said.
The embassy also cautioned that the US government has limited capacity to assist American citizens in Russia, particularly those outside Moscow. US personnel could face additional restrictions on official and personal travel to certain areas because of health and security concerns.
The State Department’s Level 4 travel advisory, introduced last December over security concerns and the risk of wrongful detention, remains in effect. The embassy reiterated that Americans currently in Russia should leave immediately.
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Americans considering a trip to Russia are “strongly advised not to travel to Russia,” the embassy said.
The warning came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the death of Daria Shipilova, the Russian plague institute worker, as “cause for focus” but not a reason for alarm.
“We know what we know, obviously, about whatever the Russians have provided,” Rubio told reporters. He said it appeared a laboratory worker had become infected, raising concerns that the illness might have spread internally.
Rubio noted that travel between the United States and Russia is already “very limited,” but warned that an infectious disease could spread if it escaped the immediate area.
Pneumonic plague can pass from person to person through the air and is almost always fatal without prompt treatment with antibiotics.
Following Shipilova’s death, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan—all countries near eastern Russia—have increased quarantine precautions and testing.
