Cases of the deadly disease were reported in Bayan-Ulgii aimag, a province in Mongolia, after a 15-year-old boy caught the infection. The child caught the disease after eating a marmot, a type of squirrel, that was hunted by a dog. He is understood to have a high fever but medics say his condition has improved.
Officials have since quarantined 34 other people who are suspected of having caught the Bubonic Plague.
D. Narangeral, head of ministry of health in Mongolia, said: “The child’s condition has improved and there are reports that the fever has dropped and the pain in the axillary glands has decreased.
“We also took full control of 34 suspects in the first contact. Samples from the child will be flown in at 22:00 tonight for testing at the NCCD.
“This is the second plague in our country. Cases of marmot plague have also been reported in Inner Mongolia, China.
Dozens of people have been quarantined after an outbreak of Bubonic plague was confirmed (Image: Getty)
“In this regard, Russia yesterday began to take measures to ban marmot hunting.
“While our neighbors are paying close attention, our citizens are being warned not to hunt and eat marmots illegally and to follow their advice.”
A 27-year-old man and his brother, 17, are in hospital and described as “stable”.
Another case has been confirmed in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region.
Marmots are a known carrier of the plague bacteria (Image: Getty)
A herdsman is said to be in a stable condition after being confirmed with the disease at the weekend.
The case prompted to China to place a third level alert on the region of Bayannur, over fears the outbreak could become an epidemic.
A statement from the local authority read: “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.”
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The WHO have said it is ‘carefully monitoring’ the case of the plague in China (Image: Getty)
The alert bans the hunting and eating of animals that could carry the plague.
It also asks the public to report any suspected cases of plague or fever with no clear causes.
People are also required to report any sick or dead marmots.
The WHO has said it is “carefully monitoring” the case of the plague in China but has said the incident is “not high risk”.
Countries that still have the plague (Image: Express)
WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said: “Bubonic plague has been with us and is always with us, for centuries.
“We are looking at the case numbers in China. It’s being well managed.
“At the moment, we are not considering it high risk but we’re watching it, monitoring it carefully.”
Last year two people died after contracting the plague in Inner Mongolia from eating the raw meat of a marmot.
Marmots are a known carrier of the plague bacteria.
The disease causes patients to develop a sudden onset fever, headache, chills, muscle weakness and painful lymph nodes.
The plague was once greatly feared as it caused one of the deadliest epidemics in human history – the Black Death – which killed about 50million people across Africa, Asia and Europe in the 14th century.
The disease can now be easily treated but the World Health Organization (WHO) still warns it can kill in under 24hours.