WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he would help Russia combat the outbreak of pneumonic plague, which he called “a rough disease.”

His response came after a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague

Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East fell ill and died in undisclosed circumstances. Russian authorities quarantined dozens of ‌people.

“We’ll help,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Oct. 5. “Anybody who has that kind of a problem, we’ll always help.”

“I hate to see them having it. That’s a rough disease,” Trump added. “Somehow those microbes have gotten stronger and stronger. They’re like an army.”

Asked what the U.S. is doing about the risk of plague coming from Russia, Trump said officials are reviewing it.

“We’re looking at it very strongly,” Trump said. “They called it pneumonia. Years ago, you could treat pneumonia easier. The microbes and the germs have gotten stronger, disproportionately. But we’ll help them.”

Earlier on Oct. 5, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. is closely "watching and monitoring" the developments in Russia.

"I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause just to keep an eye on it," Rubio said.

The death of the woman, who was in her late 20s and an employee at anti-plague institute, has raised concerns of an outbreak of the plague, prompting Russian authorities to impose anti-epidemic measures in southeastern Russia.

Rospotrebnadzor, a health and consumer protection agency in Russia, described the illness that caused the woman’s death as “pneumonia of unknown origin.”