Health authorities in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued a level 3 alert on Sunday after confirming a bubonic plague case in a local shepherd.
As the world grapples with COVID-19, historical threats like the plague continue to emerge. This case in Bayannur city underscores the need for vigilance.
The shepherd was hospitalized on Sunday, with city health officials swiftly verifying the diagnosis. The patient is now stable.
In response, the city's health commission declared a level 3 alert (on a 1-4 scale), advising residents to avoid hunting, eating, or transporting wild animals that may carry the plague bacteria.
Locals are also urged to report any dead or ill rodents. These measures will remain in place through year's end, per the New York Times, to curb potential spread.
Plague is typically spread by fleas from infected rodents, with marmots serving as the primary reservoir in Inner Mongolia.
Symptoms emerge after a 2-6 day incubation: chills, fever, muscle/joint pain, headaches, and extreme fatigue. Within 24 hours, painful swollen lymph nodes appear near the flea bite site.
Notably, two people in Mongolia died from plague in May 2019 after eating raw marmot kidneys. The Kazakh couple's deaths prompted a quarantine in Bayan-Ulgii Province, near Russia and China.
The culprit, Yersinia pestis, fueled the Black Death, claiming at least 25 million lives in the Middle Ages. Recent excavations in England uncovered a mass grave with 48 plague victims.
Early antibiotics can treat it effectively, yet bubonic plague remains deadly. WHO data shows over 3,000 cases and 584 deaths between 2010-2015, mainly in Madagascar, DR Congo, and Peru.
