Nine close-coupled nucleic acid tests of nearly 70-year-old sheep who died of plague infection were negative

An anti-rodent operation is underway in Damao Banner, and the staff are wearing white "flea-proof socks."

　　China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Miao

　　It is no longer possible to know how Li Jincai came into contact with the source of plague infection this summer.

　　He has lived for 69 years on the land of Maoming’an United Banner in Daerhan, Inner Mongolia. It is located north of the Yinshan Mountains and has an average elevation of over 1,300 meters. It is one of the 19 border flags (cities) and 33 animal husbandry flags in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is also one of the 25 high-risk areas of plague, with a natural plague focal area of ​​16,000 square kilometers.

　　In the grasslands of northern Inner Mongolia, July is the best season for aquatic plants. The ankle-level meadows and staggered shrubs are covered with slightly undulating hills. The old sheepman drove the sheep out every morning. There was no fixed grazing location. He only followed the sheep wherever they went while eating the grass.

　　The flock scattered. When the sun moved from east to west, he drove the sheep home again. Tired, he sat down on the low hillside. When he was thirsty, he reached out into the grass and grabbed a handful of green onions to chew.

　　"Maybe it was infected like this." The villagers speculated.

　　On this grassland, there are mice, marmots, and hares. The plague was first detected in Damao Banner in 1970, and the prevention and control of the plague has never stopped for decades.

　　"There have been many occurrences of plague among the rats in Damao Banner, but the plague on humans has not occurred. This time, the Wen did not order the village committee Suji New Village in Shibao Town. This is the first human case in Damao Banner. Plague." Wang Guihong, director and chief physician of the Damao Banner Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the media.

　　The root cause of the plague is Yersinia pestis. When a rodent infected with this bacteria is bitten by a flea, the Yersinia pestis will spread to other organisms through the fleas. This is a severe infectious disease. The infected person will have symptoms such as fever, swollen lymph nodes, coughing, and difficulty breathing. It is "very infectious and has a very high mortality rate." According to different clinical symptoms, plague is divided into mild plague, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, septic plague, enteric plague, and so on. The incubation period of different types is different, bubonic plague is 2-8 days, pneumonic plague is several hours to 3 days. In the 14th century, the plague killed one-third of the population of Europe at that time and was called the "Black Death".

　　This high-fatality infectious disease has never completely disappeared. In November last year, two patients from Sunite Left Banner of the Xilin Gol League in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were diagnosed with pneumonic plague and transferred from Inner Mongolia to Beijing for treatment. In 2020, there were 3 confirmed cases of plague in Inner Mongolia, including a herder who was infected with bubonic plague in Bayannur City on July 5.

　　It was the intestinal plague that took away Li Jincai's life. The symptoms were in addition to the usual symptoms of plague, frequent vomiting, and a large amount of blood and mucus in the vomiting and diarrhea.

　　At first, Li Jincai thought he was just a cold, so he bought some medicine to treat the cold. He is about to be 70 years old, with a cold and fever, just like a common disease caused by a weakened immune system.

　　But this time it was not a common cold and fever. At 12:30 in the evening on August 2, he tried to get to the ground with his shoes on, and then fell over and never got up again.

　　Twenty-seven minutes later, Damaoqi CDC received the report of this case.

　　Li Jincai is a sheep-husband, and he can easily come into contact with fleas carrying pathogenic bacteria on the grassland. In the local area, the sheep-husband is regarded as a "high-risk occupation" for plague infection. Moreover, 3 kilometers to the north of Suji New Village, it happens to be the "warm-free" epidemic that the CDC is dealing with.

　　On the morning of July 29, Shibao Town had just held an emergency meeting on plague prevention and control, and arranged prevention and control work for the rodent plague found in Bayin New Village and Hongshanzi Er Lengtan Village in Wenbuling. On July 30, 180 people from Shibao Town participated in the rodent eradication work at the epidemic site.

　　"Dying faster, it's an'emergency patient'." Li Jincai's situation immediately made Damaoqi CDC nervous. The workers rushed to Lao Yanghu's house overnight and took samples for testing. At 7:40 in the morning, the preliminary results of the plague nucleic acid test came out and were positive.

　　On August 6, after an expert consultation, it was determined that Li Jincai was suffering from intestinal plague, and the direct cause of death was circulatory system failure. On the same day, the Baotou Municipal Health Commission issued a level III warning notice for the plague epidemic in Damao Banner, and Damao Banner initiated a level IV emergency response to the plague epidemic. In the past few days, even the sheep in the village cannot leave the village at will and go out to eat grass.

　　The life trajectory of the old sheep in the last 9 days has been repeated by the disease control department. In the eyes of the locals, he was "the most honest and kind" and had a very simple life. This year he should have his 70th birthday. Now, the flock that he has been looking after at home is in the hands of the children.

　　In the last days of his life, the 9 people who had close contact with him, and the 26 people who had been in close contact with these 9 people, began to be quarantined, medical observation, and preventive medication. The 9 close contacts included his family, friends, and two village doctors who treated him.

　　In the words of the villagers, "test the nucleic acid once a day." Fortunately, it has been negative so far, and more than a week has passed and no one has a fever.

　　But this failed to completely dissipate the tension about the plague from the village. Village officials visited house to house and distributed flea-proof socks and medicines.

　　Suji New Village is still under blockade and isolation. Large and small isolation circles are delineated in the village, and they are on guard for 24 hours. Residents in the surrounding villages of the epidemic area, as well as all staff who participated in the treatment of the epidemic area, have also taken preventive medication.

　　The Mongolian transliteration of village names, which was a bit confusing to foreigners, quickly appeared in the national media of all sizes, accompanied by popular science related to the epidemic. Some local netizens also left messages, "Inner Mongolia's plague prevention system is very mature" "In fact, every year."

　　In the streets and alleys of Suji New Village and even neighboring villages, village officials wearing masks and flea-proof socks are busy disinfecting, and carrying spades to the grasslands to kill rats. The health of all the sheep in the village has attracted attention and they have been "health monitoring". After all, they, who are often exposed in the wild, are a "high-risk group" of plague.

　　According to the advice of experts, it is best for them to bring a horse when they go grazing, don't sit directly on the hillside, don't let fleas jump on them.

　　China Youth Daily · China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Miao Source: China Youth Daily