The Kremlin on Tuesday said Russia would welcome help from the United States if it were needed, after a plague researcher died in Siberia.
A scientist at a plague research facility died of pneumonia of unknown origin last week, Russian officials have said.
On Monday, President Donald Trump offered Moscow assistance over the matter.
On Tuesday, a Russian health agency told the World Health Organization (WHO) that no plague cases existed among contacts of the deceased laboratory worker.
“It’s always very good when mutual assistance is offered,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing, according to Interfax Russia.
While speaking to reporters on Monday, President Donald Trump said that the issue could be a “big problem for Russia.”
“We’ll help,” Trump also said. “Anybody that has that kind of a problem, we’re always willing to help.”
Peskov was also asked about Trump’s comment about the situation being a “big problem.”
“Frankly, I haven’t heard the president say he considers this a major problem for Russia. I don’t think he said so, but I could be wrong,” he said.
When asked whether Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian health and consumer agency, would release the laboratory test results, the Kremlin spokesman said, “Of course, as Rospotrebnadzor continues its work, additional information will be provided.”
Earlier this week, Rospotrebnadzor said that the region around Irkutsk, where the worker died, was deemed to be secure.
“The sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region and the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable,” the agency said through state-run media, including Interfax Russia.
But it added that “a special set of measures has been organized and implemented in connection with the case of an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East, diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown etiology.”
The World Health Organization in Geneva said on Tuesday that Russia had told it there were no cases of plague in Irkutsk, according to a statement read by WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.
Plague comes in three forms affecting different parts of the body. Pneumonic plague, an infection of the lungs, prompts the patient to cough out infectious airborne droplets.
The most common form of plague, which is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, is bubonic plague. It is transmitted through infected fleas before the pathogen moves to the lymph nodes.
Another form, septicemic plague, occurs when the bacteria enters and multiplies in the bloodstream following a flea bite, officials say.
Pneumonic plague can also occur when an untreated plague infection spreads to the lungs, officials say.
Aside from Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Moscow to provide more information about the incident, adding that he would not speculate about what had happened.
“Any time you hear that there’s some disease that infected someone in a lab anywhere in the world, you’re going to be concerned about it,” Rubio told reporters in Iceland on Tuesday.
“I think it’s incumbent upon Russia to … share more information with the world. That’s what they should do.”
Peskov urged Russians not to heed “rumors and speculation” about a possible plague outbreak, saying they should follow statements from Rospotrebnadzor instead.
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