US health agency funds Russian-linked plague research amid Siberian outbreak concerns
The National Institutes of Health allocated over $800,000 to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for a study involving foxes from a Siberian breeding facility tied to the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute, which is under scrutiny after a suspected plague case.
A bipartisan watchdog group, White Coat Waste, uncovered that the National Institutes of Health awarded the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign nearly $800,000 across two years—$389,943 in July 2025 and $389,746 in September 2026—for research using foxes bred at a Siberian facility. The study, which examines social behavior, involves samples sent from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, a Russian state-run body that previously partnered with the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute.
That institute gained international attention after lab worker Darya Shipilova reportedly broke a test tube containing live bacteria and later died of a suspected pneumonic plague on October 2, prompting quarantines and border health checks in neighboring countries. Russian authorities have labeled her death as an "unidentified pneumonia," while WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove said the exact pathogen has not been confirmed. Critics argue the funding violates a 2022 presidential directive to halt U.S. animal-testing support for Russian labs following the invasion of Ukraine.
Why it matters
U.S. taxpayer money is supporting research linked to a lab tied to a possible plague outbreak, raising biosecurity and policy concerns.
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