Story at a glance
- China is currently reporting its second incidence of the plague this year.
- Two people living in Mongolia have been diagnosed with pneumonic plague. The earlier reported appearance of plague was also in Mongolia.
- Chinese health officials say the chances of the disease spreading into a larger outbreak are “extremely low.”
Two patients in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia have been diagnosed with pneumonic plague, according to state media Xinhua. A related form of the disease, bubonic plague, or “Black Death,” was responsible for killing some 50 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages and millions more in China in the late 1800s. Chinese health officials say there is an “extremely low” chance that these two cases are the start of a larger outbreak of pneumonic plague, the Washington Post reports.
This is the second appearance of plague in the region this year. In May, a Mongolian couple contracted bubonic plague and died after consuming raw marmot organs and meat as part of a local health remedy.
The two recently diagnosed cases are pneumonic plague, the most deadly of the three common forms of the disease. Pneumonic plague infects the lungs, while septicemic plague infects the blood, and bubonic plague, the most common form, typically presents with painful and swollen lymph nodes.
Plague is caused by bacteria. Victims typically become infected when they are bitten by fleas or come into contact with small mammals that are themselves infected with a bacteria called Yersinia pestis.
Globally, there were more than 3,200 reported cases from 2010 to 2015, 584 of which were fatal, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The majority of cases were in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Peru.
With nearly 50,000 cases recorded in the last 20 years, the WHO now classifies plague as a re-emerging disease. There is no vaccine that effectively guards against plague, but most cases resolve if they are treated swiftly with antibiotics. At least one case of antibiotic resistant plague was reported in Madagascar.
In the U.S., most cases of plague occur in Northern New Mexico, northern Arizona and southern Colorado as well as California, southern Oregon and western Nevada. If you live in one of these areas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding contact with rodents, treating pets with anti-flea medication and preventing pets from hunting or roaming near rodent habitats.
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