Fears have escalated that bubonic plague could spread into China after 17 provinces in its neighbouring country Mongolia are at risk of the infectious disease.
Three new suspected cases of bubonic plague were reported Wednesday in the central Mongolian province of Uvurkhangai by officials.
It comes as China’s Inner Mongolia region, near the Chinese border with Mongolia, has seen two deaths from the plague since August, prompting the authorities to impose lockdowns and quarantine residents.
Fears have escalated that bubonic plague could spread into China after 17 provinces in its neighbouring country Mongolia are now at risk of the infectious disease. The file picture shows people wearing face masks as they walk across a street at a shopping area in Beijing Tuesday
In July, the northern Chinese region issued an early epidemic warning after a herdsman contracted bubonic plague in the city of Bayan Nur.
The confirmed plague cases have sparked fears of a new wave of virus outbreak erupting in China while the country is still battling the coronavirus.
Mongolia’s health ministry recorded three more suspected cases of the disease today, bringing the total number of reported cases this year to 16.
‘Three suspected cases of the plague are now under isolation at a local hospital. They are members of the same family or mother and her two children,’ Dorj Narangerel, head of public relations and surveillance department of the health ministry, told a press conference.
The patients were said to have contracted the disease after consuming marmot meat.
Plague cases are not uncommon in China, but outbreaks have become increasingly rare. From 2009 to 2018, China reported 26 cases and 11 deaths. Pictured shows a Mongolian marmot
China’s Inner Mongolia region has seen two deaths, one reported in Baotou and the other in Bayan Nur from the plague since August as officials have issued level-three epidemic warnings
The new cases come after Mongolian authorities have declared 17 out of all 21 provinces in the country are at risk of bubonic plague.
‘A total of 137 soums (administrative subdivisions) of 17 provinces in the country are now risk areas of bubonic plague or natural homes of the zoonotic disease,’ Bandikhuu Amgalanbayar, deputy director of the NCZD, told Chinese state news agency Xinhua in an interview.
‘Especially, western provinces such as Bayan-Ulgii, Govi-Altai, Khovd and Uvs have been regarded as high-risk areas of the plague.’
China’s Inner Mongolia region has seen two deaths from the plague since August as officials have issued level-three epidemic warnings.
On August 6, the Baotou city health commission confirmed a resident died of a different form of the disease four days earlier.
A second victim died from multiple organ failure in a case of the bubonic plague, the Bayan Nur health commission of Inner Mongolia said on the following day. The file picture taken on December 1, 2018 shows people taking part in a race in Wulatehou Banner, Bayan Nur
The city of Baotou, in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said the victim had contracted the enteric plague.
A second victim died from multiple organ failure in a case of the bubonic plague, the Bayan Nur health commission of Inner Mongolia said on the following day.
Baotou officials ordered the city to enter a precautionary warning period, which is set to last until the end of the year.
The government admitted that the city was facing a potential epidemic of plague among humans.
The bubonic plague, one of the four forms of the disease, is one of the most devastating diseases in history.
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is carried by fleas and transmitted between animals. The picture above is a 3D illustration of the bacterium
The enteric plague, also known as the pharyngeal plague, attacks a person’s digestive system and can arise as a result of exposure to infectious aerosols or by ingestion of infected meat.
The other forms of the disease are the pneumonic plague, a severe lung infection, and the septicemic plague, which affects a person’s blood systems.
China has largely eradicated the plague, but occasional cases are still reported.
The last major known outbreak of the disease was in 2009, when several people died in the town of Ziketan in Qinghai province on the Tibetan Plateau.
BUBONIC PLAGUE: WIPED OUT A THIRD OF EUROPE IN THE 14TH CENTURY
Bubonic plague is one of the most devastating diseases in history, having killed around 100million people during the ‘Black Death’ in the 14th century.
Drawings and paintings from the outbreak, which wiped out about a third of the European population, depict town criers saying ‘bring out your dead’ while dragging trailers piled with infected corpses.
It is caused by a bacterium known as Yersinia pestis, which uses the flea as a host and is usually transmitted to humans via rats.
Drawings and paintings from the outbreak, which wiped out about a third of the European population, depict town criers saying ‘bring out your dead’ while dragging trailers piled with infected corpses
The disease causes grotesque symptoms such as gangrene and the appearance of large swellings on the groin, armpits or neck, known as ‘buboes’.
It kills up to two thirds of sufferers within just four days if it is not treated, although if antibiotics are administered within 24 hours of infection patients are highly likely to survive.
After the Black Death arrived in 1347 plague became a common phenomenon in Europe, with outbreaks recurring regularly until the 18th century.
Bubonic plague has almost completely vanished from the rich world, with 90 per cent of all cases now found in Africa.
However, there have been a few non-fatal cases in the U.S. in recent years, while in August 2013 a 15-year-old boy died in Kyrgyzstan after eating a groundhog infected with the disease.
Three months later, an outbreak in a Madagascan killed at least 20 people in a week.
A year before 60 people died as a result of the infection, more than in any other country in the world.
Outbreaks in China have been rare in recent years, and most have happened in remote rural areas of the west.
China’s state broadcaster said there were 12 diagnosed cases and three deaths in the province of Qinghai in 2009, and one in Sichuan in 2012.
In the United States between five and 15 people die every year as a result, mostly in western states.