W.H.O. Backs China’s Handling of Bubonic Plague Outbreak: ‘Not High Risk’

Eleven people have died of the plague, known as the Black Death in the Middle Ages, across China since 2009.

Symptoms of the bacterial infection, mostly spread by rodents, include a fever, swollen lymph nodes and feeling weak.

There were four reported cases of plague in people in the same region last November, including two cases of the deadlier pneumonic plague. On that occasion the Chinese government blocked the release of all details about the patients.

Now W.H.O. spokeswoman Margaret Harris has told the BBC the latest outbreak is absolutely no cause for concern as the Chinese Communist government has the matter well in hand. She 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.

Chinese news agency Xinhua says Mongolia confirmed cases last week – brothers who had eaten marmot meat in Khovd province.

The agency called on the public to report any “ill or dead marmots and other animals,” and report suspected plague cases, “high fever patients with unknown reasons” and “patients dying from sudden deaths.”

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