Don’t be afraid that Beijing’s risk is extremely low but—
You must understand the knowledge of "shielding" plague
On July 5, a case of plague was diagnosed in Wulatezhongqi, Bayannaoer City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The city also issued a level III early warning for plague prevention and control. The new pneumonia epidemic hasn't stopped yet. Is the plague coming again? Has this plague affected Beijing? How did the plague spread? What are the susceptible people and how to "shield" the plague, we still need to understand these prevention and control knowledge.
Beijing is not a plague epidemic
Plague is a natural epidemic disease caused by Yersinia pestis. It is usually epidemic among rodents and occasionally can cause human epidemics. It is a statutory class A infectious disease in my country. The plague has an acute onset, a short course of disease, a high mortality rate, strong infectivity, and rapid spread. Especially for septic and plague, if left untreated, the case fatality rate is 30% to 100%. In my country, plague cases occur almost every year, but case treatment and epidemic situation are timely.
The Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention that after years of surveillance, Beijing has never found outbreaks in rats and humans. Since Beijing is not a source of plague, the risk of local plague cases is extremely low, so citizens should not panic. But as an international metropolis, Beijing still has the risk of plague import and spread. For example, in 2019, Beijing reported the only two imported cases after the founding of New China, which did not cause transmission.
These jobs bring you closer to the plague
The source of plague is animals infected with plague and pneumonic patients. The main host animals are rodents and wild carnivores, such as gray marmot, red marmot and long-tailed yellow rat.
There are two main ways of spreading plague, one is rat-flea-human, that is, fleas bite sick rats and then bite people, or stripping the skin of infected marmot or eating other infected animals. Such transmission methods often cause bubonic plague. Or septicemic plague. The other is a person-to-person method, that is, a healthy person contacts a patient with pneumonic plague and inhales infection through the respiratory tract. The main infection in this method is pneumonic plague.
According to reports, people are generally susceptible to plague. People working in the field in the epidemic area, or hunters and herdsmen who hunt and deprive marmots are more likely to come into contact with infected animals, and the possibility of infection is higher than that of the general population.
Learn about the typical symptoms of plague
What happens to the body after getting the plague? According to Dou Xiangfeng, deputy chief physician of the Infectious Diseases and Endemic Disease Control Center of Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the typical performance of "Zhongzhaoer" includes the following:
Bubonic plague:
Fever, most of which is high fever. Above 39℃, a large lump appears in the armpit, groin (between the legs) or other parts, which is very painful.
Pneumonic plague:
Fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing, coughing up blood or coughing up bloody foamy sputum. This is the more serious type of pneumonic plague in plague. The condition is dangerous and spread more quickly.
Other types, such as skin plague, eye plague, and gastrointestinal plague are relatively rare.
"All doctors will report when they see the plague, and you will soon get the best treatment in the country." Dou Xiangfeng reminded that timely antibiotic treatment can reduce the mortality of plague. Once you suspect that you have plague, no matter whether you are sure, please stay away from the crowd immediately, it is best to isolate it in a separate room. Immediately call the emergency number to describe the condition and wait for rescue. In the wild, you should choose the nearest hospital, including village doctors and township health centers.
Five strokes "protect body" away from plague
1. Avoid traveling or activities in the epidemic area, and avoid contact with rodents such as rodents and marmots;
2. Avoid close contact with patients with plague. When in contact with patients who may be infected with pneumonic plague, try to maintain a contact distance of more than 1 meter with the patient, wear a mask, and wash hands frequently;
3. Take necessary anti-flea bite measures, use insect repellent preparations, commonly used mosquito repellents can generally drive off fleas;
4. If you have been to the epidemic area, you should continue to measure your body temperature for 2 weeks. If you suddenly have any symptoms such as fever, chills, lymph node pain, cough, hemoptysis, or bleeding, you should seek medical advice immediately and inform your doctor about the travel history of the epidemic area. Early Antibiotic treatment is better;
5. People who are in close contact with patients with plague should prevent medication as soon as possible. Sulfonamide preparations can be taken. Adults take 2g for the first time, and then take 1g for 4-6 hours, usually for 5 days.
Text / reporter Li Jie