Will the outbreak of pneumonic plague in China cause mass deaths worldwide?
China Plague Outbreak Unlikely to Cause Mass Deaths, WHO Says By Simeon Bennett Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — An outbreak of pneumonic plague in China that killed two men is unlikely to cause the mass fatalities associated with historical outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization. While the disease can kill 60 percent of its victims if left unchecked, early diagnosis and treatment with generic antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline cuts plague patients’ mortality rate to less than 15 percent, the WHO said on its Web site. Authorities in northwestern China quarantined the town of Ziketan in Qinghai province after two men died from pneumonic plague, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. Pneumonic plague is the most serious and least common of three forms of the infectious disease. Plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria, found mainly in rodents, particularly rats, and in the fleas that feed on them. “These things do happen sporadically in different c
Entire town in quarantine after two die from pneumonic plague in China An outbreak of pneumonic plague has killed two people in China and forced the lockdown of a remote town of 10,000 to halt the further spread of one of the world’s deadliest and most contagious diseases. The first victim, a 32-year-old herdsman, fell ill a day after burying his dog, which had died suddenly. Two days later the man was dead and friends and relatives attended his funeral in the ethnically Tibetan region of Ziketan in western Qinghai province. Of those mourners, 11 soon fell ill. One man, 37-year-old Danzin, a neighbour of the first victim, died on Sunday. Investigating the disease that had infected so many people so quickly, medical authorities soon established that all were infected with pneumonic plague. Those infected were undergoing treatment in isolation in a local Tibetan hospital while all 10,000 residents of Ziketan were placed in quarantine to try to halt the spread of one of the deadliest dise
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — An outbreak of pneumonic plague in China that killed two men is unlikely to cause the mass fatalities associated with historical outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization. While the disease can kill 60 percent of its victims if left unchecked, early diagnosis and treatment with generic antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline cuts plague patients’ mortality rate to less than 15 percent, the WHO said on its Web site. Sources: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?
Entire town in quarantine after two die from pneumonic plague in China An outbreak of pneumonic plague has killed two people in China and forced the lockdown of a remote town of 10,000 to halt the further spread of one of the world’s deadliest and most contagious diseases. The first victim, a 32-year-old herdsman, fell ill a day after burying his dog, which had died suddenly. Two days later the man was dead and friends and relatives attended his funeral in the ethnically Tibetan region of Ziketan in western Qinghai province. Of those mourners, 11 soon fell ill. One man, 37-year-old Danzin, a neighbour of the first victim, died on Sunday. Investigating the disease that had infected so many people so quickly, medical authorities soon established that all were infected with pneumonic plague. Those infected were undergoing treatment in isolation in a local Tibetan hospital while all 10,000 residents of Ziketan were placed in quarantine to try to halt the spread of one of the deadliest dise
Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — An outbreak of pneumonic plague in China that killed two men is unlikely to cause the mass fatalities associated with historical outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization. While the disease can kill 60 percent of its victims if left unchecked, early diagnosis and treatment with generic antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline cuts plague patients’ mortality rate to less than 15 percent, the WHO said on its Web site.
