New Virus emerged! Chinese city sounds alert after it records suspected case of Bubonic plague

Beijing, July 06: Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, China sounded an alarm as health ministry had reportedly announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control. This comes as Bubonic plague has emerged in Bayannur which falls under China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

 

 

The suspected cases of the plague were reported on June 5 and the plague warning will be in effect till the end of 2020 as a precaution. "At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly," a health authority said.

 

A 27-year-old resident and his 17-year-old brother were diagnosed with bubonic plague after they ate marmot meat, the health officials reportedly said, warning people not to eat marmot meat. The authorities have isolated 146 people who had come into contact with the brothers.

 

Residents have been asked to strictly follow control measures. Illegal hunting, eating, or carrying animals out of the area has been prohibited. The alert forbids the hunting and eating of animals that could carry plague and asks the public to report any suspected cases of plague or fever with no clear causes and to report any sick or dead marmots. Strict epidemic control and prevention measures have been implemented by the local authorities.

 

 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), bubonic plague, infamously known as the Black Death, usually results from the bite of infected fleas, leading to the development of Lymphadenitis in the drainage lymph nodes. Patients suffering from bubonic plague develop sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes (called buboes). It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that the bacteria can spread to other parts of the body if the patient is not treated with appropriate antibiotics. Fleas get infected by feeding on rodents infected with the bacterium Yersinia pestis and transmit the plague bacteria to humans and other mammals during a subsequent feeding.

 

The Chinese researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak The Bayannaoer health commission warned of the risks of human-to-human infection from the plague and urged people in the city to take precautions.

 

The incubation period for bubonic plague is 2-6 days after being infected and if the disease left untreated, plague bacteria can invade the bloodstream where they rapidly multiply and spread throughout the body and cause a severe and often fatal condition called septicemic plague.

 

 

Plague symptoms depend on how the patient was exposed to the plague bacteria. Plague can take different clinical forms, but the most common are bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic.

 

Sudden onset of fever, chills, head and body aches, and weakness, vomiting, and nausea. In bubonic plague, the lymph node becomes inflamed, tense, and painful (almost the size of a chicken's egg), called a ‘bubo’.

 

At advanced stages of the infection, the inflamed lymph nodes can turn into open sores filled with pus. When it advances to the lungs, pneumonic plague becomes the most virulent form of plague. Septicaemic plague (in the bloodstream) can cause tissue death and subsequent blackening of fingers, toes, and nose, according to Mayo Clinic.

 

It killed between 75 and 200 million people in the 14th century, and at least 30 to 50 million from the year 541 to 549.

 

Plague cases are common in China, but outbreaks have become increasingly rare. From 2009 to 2018, China reported 26 cases and 11 deaths. In 2014, a man died of the plague in northwestern Gansu province, sparking quarantine of 151 people. The new diseases were reported even as China grappled with the second attack of COVID-19 in Beijing after controlling it in Wuhan.