In China, the third level of epidemiological danger was declared in the Bayan Nur urban district after a man with signs of bubonic plague was admitted to the hospital in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. This was reported by Xinhua, citing a report by the Bayan-Nur Health Committee.
The regime of increased danger will be valid until the end of this year.
In turn, the district health commission reported that in the region there is currently a risk of the spread of bubonic plague, in connection with which hunting for wild animals and eating them is prohibited.
Locals should also report sick or dead animals. It is also necessary to report sudden deaths of people with high fever.
Later it became known that the hospitalized man confirmed the diagnosis.
“Before the disease, the patient was in the epidemiological focus of bubonic plague. Now the patient is undergoing isolated treatment, his condition is assessed as stable, ”RIA Novosti quoted the statement of the Bayan-Nur Health Committee.
It is worth noting that in early July, two cases of bubonic plague were also detected in western Mongolia in the region that borders the Altai Republic. The disease was found in a man and a girl, both ended up in the hospital after eating raw groundhog meat.
The Russian embassy in Ulan Bator explained that, despite the prohibitions, local residents continue to hunt and eat tarbagans (Mongolian marmots), as this is a delicacy. The diplomatic mission noted that the Mongolian authorities took all necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease. All persons who could be in contact with the sick were isolated.
The doctor of medical sciences, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science Gennady Onishchenko also said that the plague outbreak, which includes part of the Russian territory, has long been known, and the recorded outbreak is associated with the eating habits of local residents.
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He confirmed that this outbreak is characterized by a mechanism of infection through the meat of ground squirrels and groundhogs, which are a natural reservoir of plague sticks. In this case, the main carrier of the infection are fleas that parasitize on local animals, but can pass on to humans.
“Last year, our specialists sent an antiplague squad to Mongolian territory, conducted research there, in particular, found out the level of infection of fleas, which are the classic carriers of plague. In fact, the activity of the outbreak will decrease by mid-August, when the groundhogs, after properly feeding the fat, begin to hibernate, ”Onishchenko drew attention.
He emphasized that the outbreak detected in Mongolia is local in nature.
Cases of plague are periodically reported worldwide. So, in May 2019, an outbreak of bubonic plague was also detected in Mongolia.
“In the region of the western Mongolian province Bayan-Ulgiy, located on the territory of the natural foci of plague, two cases of plague with a fatal outcome have been reported,” Rospotrebnadzor reported.
The department said that the infection occurred due to eating raw meat and internal organs of the groundhog. Quarantine was declared in the region; Rospotrebnadzor strengthened sanitary-quarantine control at checkpoints across the state border.
Prior to this, in March 2019, the agency warned about the risk of pneumonic plague from Russians planning trips to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - in Uganda, on the border with the DRC, two cases of suspicion of this disease were revealed among members of the same family.
As a specialist in especially dangerous infections, doctor of medical sciences Vladislav Zhemchugov explained in a conversation with the radio station “Says Moscow”, eastern countries are accustomed to the occurrence of foci of plague, there are special services that prevent the disease from spreading.
“China and Mongolia are millennia-old natural foci of plague, just like our Irkutsk region, Altai, Tuva. It has always been like this in nature, is and I think it will be from Genghis Khan and so on. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in this, there are special services, including our anti-plague system, which has recently turned 100 years old, and the Mongolian services are appropriate, and Chinese at the highest level, so I think there is nothing wrong, ”he said .