Bubonic Plague Alert! Village in China Sealed; Victim Dies of Multiple Organ Failure 

Amid COVID-19 outbreak and fear, Chinese authorities have sealed off a village in the Inner Mongolia region. 

The authorities had to take this step after a resident in northern China died from the plague. It is the second death from the disease in the country’s Inner Mongolia region this week. 

According to a statement issued by the Baotou Municipal Health Commission the death of the patient was reported on Sunday in the Baotou city. The statement issued by the commission mentioned that the patient had died of multiple organ failure, it did not tell how the patient contracted the plague in the first place. 

Also, the area where the person lived has been sealed off, and seven close contacts have been placed under medical observation. They all tested negative for the plague and showed no symptoms, the statement added.

Earlier in July, another case of Bubonic plague was reported from the Bayannur city in the same inner Mongolia region. 

Despite eradicating the plague, China still occasionally reports new cases. As per CNN reports, the last major known outbreak was in 2009, when several people died in the town of Ziketan in Qinghai province. 

As per World Health Organisation (WHO), this plague is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, usually found in small mammals and their fleas. The disease is transmitted between animals via their fleas; it can also be transmitted from animals to humans.

The website of WHO says: "Humans can be contaminated by the bite of infected fleas, through direct contact with infected materials, or by inhalation. Plague can be a very severe disease in people, particularly in its septicaemic and pneumonic forms, with a case-fatality ratio of 30 percent - 100 percent if left untreated. Although plague has been responsible for widespread pandemics throughout history, including the so-called Black Death that caused over 50 million deaths in Europe during the fourteenth century, today it can be easily treated with antibiotics and the use of standard preventative measures."

If left untreated or unattended, it has a mortality rate of 30-100 percent and has an incubation period of 3-7 days.