Outbreak of Pneumonic Plague in China

Chinese authorities recently announced an outbreak of the Pneumonic Plague, which could be worse than the current H1N1 virus that is threatening the world. At the last count, three people have died and ten others have been quarantined in the sparsely populated town of Ziketan in the Qinghai Province.

The first casualty was a man in his early 30s and reports claim that he passed away on the 30th of July. Soon afterwards, his neighbor was also afflicted with the same illness and died three days later. The latest victim, Danzhi, was twice their age and succumbed to the illness on the 3rd of August.

773px yersinia pestis Outbreak of Pneumonic Plague in China picture

In addition to this, reports claim that there are around 10 people infected with this strain in Ziketan. In a tragic twist, it appears that most of the infected are family, friends or close associates of the deceased. As a matter of fact, one of the gravely ill patients is supposed to be the wife of one of the victims.

Containment appears to be successful as the local authorities rapidly adopted the type of reassuring steps you find in big budget disaster flicks. Firstly, the small town was shut off from outside access so as to halt spread of the disease. Luckily, this was not a difficult feat as the sparsely populated area was hardly a hub of traffic in the first place.

Secondly, authorities have stepped up efforts to track down everyone who had come within germ-spreading distance of the infected people. News followers will also recall the subsequent toned-down and matter-of-fact travel alert which asked all recent visitors to keep an eye out for flu-like symptoms.

Given the nature of this illness, it is natural to assume that the Wiki page for Pneumonic Plague is probably the most accessed page on the web. The page is not as reassuring as you would have hoped. Apparently the plague is linked to bubonic plague or Black Death, the ominous disease that killed millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages.

Another tidbit that emerged from this flow of panic-induced data is the fact that this recent strain is deadlier and easier to transmit than the Black Death variant. After all, disease could strike down a person in a matter of hours and had a bacteria facilitation slogan akin to “Just sneeze, no intermediary pests required”.

This brings up another question asked by worried readers – is this a sudden resurgence of an eradicated illness? According to various reports, plague have been an unwelcome visitor in human lives for many years now. The Black Plague incident during the 14th Century might have been its most well-known cases but it was not the last one.

Historical documentation would easily point out numerous other instances. For example, China lost close to 12 million lives in the 1800’s to the plague. And of course, residents of USA had a nasty run-in with the plague as the 1920s. Finally, northern parts of China appears to experience plague outbreaks every so often, with the most recent cases dating back to early 2000’s.

Statistics aside, authorities are also somewhat optimistic about their capability to deal with infections. To this effect, WHO has been reassuring everyone about the virtues of early detection and preventative measures. According to them, people treated with antibiotics at the beginning have a strong chance of recovery.

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By shinigami on 07-08-2009