A case of Yersinia pestis, or bubonic plague, has shown up in a patient in Northern China’s Inner Mongolia. Mongolia’s health authority said in a statement: “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.”
Fears have grown over a potential pandemic as the mortality rate for the plague appears to be between 8 and 10 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation.
The availability of antibiotics can be quite low in some parts of the world, and because the plague is so rare, diagnosis may be slow.
It can mainly be contracted through fleas, that carry the disease, as well as from rodents or through community spread from person to person.
It can be spread through respiratory droplets or blood transmission.
The disease has a relatively short incubation period of one to six days.
There are three forms of disease brought about by Yersinia pestis: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic.
Bubonic plague affects the lymph nodes and usually comes from a flea bite. Untreated, it can spread to other systems of the body.
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It’s never fully been eradicated, but new cases are very rare.
Thanks to the discovery of antibiotics, this once devastating illness is not quite as scary as it was centuries ago.
Especially when it was known as The Black Death.
2020 is already the year for diseases and pandemics especially as COVID-19 has taken hundreds of thousands of lives.
Before the discovery and mass-production of antibiotics, more than six out of 10 people who contracted the plague would die.