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CHINA-HEALTH-DISEASE-PLAGUE
Two treated for deadly pneumonic plague in Beijing
BEIJING, Nov 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Two people in Beijing have been diagnosed
with the pneumonic plague — a rare instance of the highly-contagious disease
that is fatal if left untreated.
The two individuals were being treated at a central hospital in China’s
capital city — home to over 21 million inhabitants — on Tuesday, local
authorities said.
Pneumonic plague can prove fatal in 24 to 72 hours and is the “most
virulent form of plague,” according to the World Health Organisation (WHO),
while the bubonic form is less dangerous.
The patients are from the northwestern Inner Mongolia province, district
officials said in an online statement, adding that the “relevant prevention
and control measures have been implemented.”
The Beijing government did not respond to AFP’s calls for comment, but the
WHO confirmed that Chinese authorities had notified them about the plague
cases.
“The (Chinese) National Health Commission are implementing efforts to
contain and treat the identified cases, and increasing surveillance,” said
Fabio Scano, coordinator at WHO China.
Scano told AFP that “the risk of transmission of the pulmonary plague is
for close contacts and we understand that these are being screened and
managed.”
According to the WHO website, the lung-based pneumonic plague is very
contagious and “can trigger severe epidemics through person-to-person contact
via droplets in the air.”
Symptoms include fever, chills, vomiting and nausea.
On Weibo, a Twitter-like social media platform, Chinese censors scrubbed
the hashtag “Beijing confirms it is treating plague cases” as they tried to
control discussions — and panic — around the disease.
“I just want to know how these two came to Beijing??” posted one user. “By
train, airplane, or did they drive themselves?”
“Bird flu in the year of the rooster…swine fever in the year of the
pig,” wrote another. “Next year is the year of the rat…the plague is
coming.”
The plague germ Yersinia pestis can be transmitted to humans from infected
rats via fleas.
In 2014, a man died of the plague in northwestern Gansu province in China
and sparked the quarantine of 151 people.
The 30,000 people living in Yumen, the town where the man died, were also
prevented from leaving, with police at roadblocks placed on the town
perimeter.
According to China’s National Health Commission, a total of five people
have died from the plague between 2014 and September of this year.
BSS/AFP/RY/1540 hrs