The Siberian Plague Scare Reveals That America Is Unprepared

By Gigi Kwik Gronvall

Dr. Gronvall is an immunologist and a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

A 28-year-old woman who worked at an anti-plague research laboratory in Siberia died on Oct. 2, raising concerns and many questions. Russian officials have said that the woman died from a pneumonia of unknown origin and that no “emergency situations” had occurred at the laboratory where she worked. They stated they’d almost finished the investigation of her contacts to monitor for illness, with no concerning findings.

The Russian pronouncements contrasted with furious speculation elsewhere about what happened. Initial, unverified reports from local media suggested that the lab worker had........

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