An unnamed patient died of circulatory failure after Contracting bubonic plague, health authorities have confirmed, although it is not known how they contracted it.
Chinese authorities have cordoned off an entire village after one of its residents died of bubonic plague.
The death in Suji village of Xincun, Inner Mongolia, was reported to authorities in Baotou city on Sunday. Yesterday, it was confirmed that the patient is suffering from bubonic plague.
The patient died from circulatory failure, the Baotou municipal health Commission said in a statement. It is unclear how they caught the disease.
In an attempt to prevent the spread of the plague — especially in the midst of another global pandemic-the authorities completely closed the village of Suji Xincun, which meant that no one could enter or leave.
They also ordered that all houses in the village be disinfected daily. Every resident was tested for the plague, and they all came back negative, the statement said.
As a precautionary measure, nine close contacts and 26 “secondary” contacts of the deceased patient were quarantined, although all of them also came back negative.
Damao banner, the area where the village is located, was put on level 3 for plague prevention, the second-highest of the four-level system.
Public health measures ” prohibit hunting and eating animals that could carry the plague, and ask the public to report any suspected cases of plague or fever without clear reasons, as well as to report any sick or dead marmots.”
He will remain in his seat in the district until the end of the year.
Marmots, a type of large ground squirrel that is eaten in parts of China and Mongolia, have been linked to past outbreaks of plague in the area.
The animal is believed to have caused the 1911 plague epidemic, which killed about 63,000 people in North-Eastern China.
In July, two brothers who ate Groundhog meat tested positive for the plague, leading to a level 3 alert in Bayunnur, a city In Western Inner Mongolia.
Suji Xinqun’s death is the first death confirmed as being linked to the plague in China this year.
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Bubonic plague is caused by bacteria transmitted to humans through infected animals and flea bites. The disease causes painful, swollen lymph nodes, fever, and cough.
The Black Death pandemic wiped out almost two-thirds of Europe’s entire population in the mid-14th century, but the discovery of antibiotics in modern medicine means that most infections can be effectively treated.
The plague has returned in recent years, prompting the world health organization to classify it as a “re-emerging disease”.
There are fears that if the disease is not contained, it could cause devastating mass outbreaks as the world continues to struggle with the coronavirus pandemic.
