“The plague: In China, 3 patients have bubonic or pneumonic plague - Vox.com” plus 1 more

---

The plague: In China, 3 patients have bubonic or pneumonic plague - Vox.com Posted: 20 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST If you thought it went the way of bloodletting and medicinal leeches, think again. Three people have just come down with the plague. Yes, the plague. In China, two patients were diagnosed with the infectious disease earlier this month. While they've been receiving treatment in a hospital in Beijing, the news of the diagnosis has reportedly sparked panic among citizens there. Public health officials have been working to make sure the disease is contained, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention told Beijing residents not to panic because the risk of the plague spreading further is "extremely low." But this week, a third case was reported. A 55-year-old man was diagnosed with bubonic plague after eating wild rabbit in Inner Mongolia. The region's health commission says it has no evidence to suggest that this case is linked to the previous two. The plague comes in three varieties: Pneumonic plague is an infection of the lungs; septicemic plague is a blood infection; and bubonic plague affects the lymphatic system. That last variety is the one we know as the Black Death, the epidemic that wracked Europe in the Middle Ages. Pneumonic plague may be less famous than the bubonic form, but it's even more deadly, and that's what the first two patients have come down with. It's not clear exactly how they caught it, but they didn't catch it in Beijing: Like the 55-year-old who ate wild rabbit, they came from Inner Mongolia. They then traveled to the capital seeking treatment, according to Chinese officials. A bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which is carried by wild rodents and the fleas that feed on them, causes all three types of the plague. Pneumonic plague is highly contagious and transmissible between humans — it can be spread when an infected person coughs. That fact caused alarm among Chinese citizens when the initial news broke. One user on the popular site Weibo wrote that the government should release information on how the patients traveled to Beijing — if they used public transport, they may have spread the plague to other passengers. "How many people have they encountered potentially?" wrote the user, per the New York Times. "Only 2 kilometers away from Chaoyang Hospital. I'm shaking and trembling." Other users complained that the government should have announced the outbreak sooner (the patients reportedly sought treatment on November 3) and with greater transparency. Meanwhile, Chinese censors told online news aggregators in the country to "block and control" discussion of the plague, the Times reported, adding that China has a history of covering up infectious outbreaks. (The government keeps tight reins on the press, and media censorship could be a wild card in how a disease spreads or doesn't.) Hopefully, there will be no further transmission of the infectious disease in China. But this is an important reminder that the plague, despite common perception, is not a thing of the past. And nor is it limited to China. In recent years, the plague has popped up in countries from Madagascar to the United States. This is a global problem. And it's a reminder of the ever-present risk of pandemics — a risk for which experts say we're really not prepared. In September, experts warned in a major report that the risk of a global pandemic is growing. "There is a very real threat of a rapidly moving, highly lethal pandemic of a respiratory pathogen killing 50 to 80 million people," they wrote. The plague is more of a concern than you might think — even in the US When you think of the plague, you may think of Shakespeare's lifetime. In the Bard's day, the Black Death wiped out a quarter of his town's population. And before that outbreak, back in the mid-14th century, the bubonic plague killed an estimated 60 percent of Europe's population. Sixty percent. It's hard to grasp the magnitude of such a catastrophe — or the speed with which the highly contagious disease spread over just six years. Here's a GIF to help you visualize it: (Andrei Nacu) Thankfully, the infectious disease isn't decimating human populations at such an alarming rate anymore. Although it's lethal when left untreated, recovery rates are fairly good if it's treated with antibiotics soon after onset. But the plague — bubonic as well as pneumonic — continues to affect people from Africa to Asia, from South America to North America. It afflicted 3,248 people and killed 584 around the world between 2010 and 2015, the WHO reported. In 2014, China saw one man die and 151 people placed in quarantine because of the plague, with the city of Yumen sealed off. And just this year in Mongolia, a couple died from plague, reportedly after eating a marmot, leading to another quarantine. In 2015, plague was making headlines in the US, with 11 cases and three deaths spanning six states in between April and August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, the US records approximately a dozen plague deaths. It's more common in rural areas. In 2017, Madagascar suffered a terrible outbreak of plague, with 2,417 cases confirmed, and a death toll of 209. The plague, then, is still a concern worldwide. It's something we'd do well to address — along with pandemic preparedness more broadly — before it's too late. Sign up for the Future Perfect newsletter. Twice a week, you'll get a roundup of ideas and solutions for tackling our biggest challenges: improving public health, decreasing human and animal suffering, easing catastrophic risks, and — to put it simply — getting better at doing good.

Yes the Bubonic Plague Is Still Around, Why You Don't Need to Worry - Healthline Posted: 19 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST Share on Pinterest Bubonic plague was found in China. Getty Images An outbreak of the bubonic plague in China has led to worry that the "Black Death" could make a significant return. At least three people in China have been diagnosed with the disease. But experts say the disease is not nearly as deadly as it was thanks to antibiotics. This past Saturday, a hunter in China was diagnosed with bubonic plague after catching and eating a wild rabbit. Twenty-eight people who had been in close contact with the hunter are now in quarantine, according to the local health commission. The plague diagnosis comes about a week after the Chinese government announced two other people had contracted pneumonic plague in Beijing — the infamous plague that triggered the Black Death, which wiped out millions of people in Europe in the 14th century. With words like bubonic plague and Black Death circulating in our headlines, some may wonder if the plague is coming for the United States next — and, if so, what kind of damage it may cause. But, fortunately, we're in the clear: not only is the bubonic plague incredibly rare in the U.S., but it's also treatable. So this means there's pretty much no chance we'd ever see a pandemic play out like the one in the 14th century. "Unlike in the 14th century, we now have an understanding of how this disease is transmitted," Dr. Shanthi Kappagoda, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Health Care, told Healthline. "We know how to prevent it — avoid handling sick or dead animals in areas where there is transmission. We are also able to treat patients who are infected with effective antibiotics, and can give antibiotics to people who may have been exposed to the bacteria [and] prevent them [from] getting sick." The bubonic plague is a serious infection of the lymphatic system, which is caused by bacteria called Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis). Y. pestis spreads via infected fleas or animals, like rodents, squirrels, or hares, which can be passed into humans who are bit or scratched. The plague can cause a range of symptoms, such as fever, vomiting, bleeding, organ failure, and open sores. If the infection isn't treated immediately, the bacteria can spread in the bloodstream and cause sepsis, or septicemic plague, Kappagoda explained. If the bacteria infects the lungs, it can cause pneumonia or pneumonic plague. Without treatment, the bubonic plague can cause death in up to 60 percent of patients who get it, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But as long as you don't touch an animal that's infected with the plague germs, your chances of getting the plague are incredibly low. The plague is extremely rare. Only a couple thousand cases are reported worldwide each year, most of which are in Africa, India, and Peru. The U.S. only sees about seven cases a year and they're typically reported in Southwestern states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, where wild rodents carry the bacteria. "There is transmission of plague among wild rodents only in certain areas of the U.S., and these areas are generally very sparsely populated so there is not much opportunity for humans to come into contact with fleas or animals carrying the plague," Kappagoda said. Another reason plague is so rare is that the bacteria doesn't survive well in sunlight. "Y. pestis is easily killed by sunlight. If the bacteria is released into air it can survive for up to one hour depending on the environmental conditions," Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, said. Additionally, bubonic and septicemic plagues can't be passed from person to person, Glatter added. And although human-to-human transmission can happen with pneumonic plague when someone spreads infected cough droplets into the air, it is very rare. "Person-to-person transmission is less likely since it requires close and direct contact with a person with pneumonic plague," Glatter said. Unlike Europe's disastrous bubonic plague epidemic, the plague is now curable in most cases. It can successfully be treated with antibiotics, and according to the CDC, prompt treatment can lower your risk of death to approximately 11 percent. The antibiotics work best if given within 24 hours of the first symptoms. In severe cases, patients can be given oxygen, intravenous fluids, and breathing support. "It is critically important to be treated early as a delay in receiving antibiotics increases the risk of dying," Kappagoda said. Preventive antibiotics are also given to people who don't yet have the plague, but have come into contact with an animal or person who does. So rest assured, the plague isn't coming back, at least anytime soon. And even if it does, we now have the knowledge and resources to control it. A hunter in China was diagnosed with bubonic plague Saturday after catching and eating a wild rabbit, triggering concerns that the plague — which wiped out half of Europe's population in the 14th century — could make a comeback. But health experts say there's no chance a plague epidemic will strike again, as the plague is easily prevented and cured with antibiotics.

You are subscribed to email updates from "how was the black plague spread" - Google News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States