A suspected case of bubonic plague, a disease that caused the Black Death pandemic, was reported Saturday at a hospital in Urad Middle Manner in Bayannur City.
What We Know:
- A hospital in the city of Bayannur reported a suspected case of bubonic plague on Saturday. And according to Derry Journal, local reports say the patient, who is a herdsman from Bayannur, is in quarantine and in a stable condition. How the patient became infected has not yet been identified.
- The bubonic plague is caused by a bacterial infection and transmitted through flea bites and infected animals, which causes the development of a fever, headache, chills, and swollen and painful lymph nodes.
- Local authorities in Bayannur issued a third-level warning for plague prevention, the second-lowest in a four-level system. According to state-run Xinhua news agency, the warning will remain until the end of the year.
- Bayannur health authorities are urging people to prevent the spread of the plague by minimizing any human-to-human contact, and avoid hunting or eating animals that could cause infection.
- “At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city,” the local health authority said, according to state-run newspaper China Daily. “The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly.”
- Bayannur authorities warned the public to report any suspected cases of the plague, as well as dead or sick marmots, which are large ground squirrels that are eaten in some parts of China and the neighboring country Mongolia and have historically caused plague outbreaks in the region.
- Last week, there were two confirmed cases of bubonic plague in Mongolia, two brothers who had eaten marmot meat. Last May, a couple in Mongolia ate the raw kidney of a marmot, thought to be a folk remedy for good health, and died from bubonic plague.
The bubonic plague was responsible for the Black Death, causing around 50 million deaths across Africa, Asia, and Europe in the 14th Century.
