Health authorities in Bayannur, in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in northern China, announced on Sunday that they had detected a case of bubonic plague on Saturday. The infected person - a shepherd - is in quarantine and his condition is stable. Officials say they are investigating a second suspected case, according to the China's Global Times. It would be a fifteen year old adolescent, who may have been in contact with a groundhog chased by a dog.
Marmot hunting prohibited
The authorities of Bayannur have in parallel launched a level 3 alert on a scale of up to 4. The hunting and consumption of marmots, an animal which can carry the bubonic plague, are now prohibited. The authorities are also requesting that all suspected cases be reported.
Caused by a bacterial infection, bubonic plague can be fatal and has been once one of the most feared diseases in the world. It is now very easy to treat, with antibiotics. If the cases of bubonic plague remain relatively rare, there are still some outbreaks of disease from time to time, specifies the BBC. As in Madagascar, where 300 cases were detected during a wave of contaminations in 2017. In Mongolia, two people died of the plague last May, again after consuming marmot meat.
Little risk of the start of an epidemic
However, it is unlikely, according to scientists, that this discovery of a new case in Bayannur on Saturday marks the start of an epidemic. "Unlike the 14th century [when the bubonic plague killed nearly 50 million people across Africa, Asia and Europe], we now have a good understanding of how it is transmitted and how to prevent it », Explains to the Heatline site doctor Shanti Kappagoda.
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