Chinese city sounds alert for bubonic plague

BEIJING: A city in northern China on Sunday sounded an alert after a suspected case of bubonic plague was reported, according to official media here. Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control, state-run People's Daily Online reported.

The suspected bubonic plague case was reported on Saturday by a hospital in Bayannur. The local health authority announced that the warning period will continue until the end of 2020.

"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, the local health authority said.

On July 1, state-run Xinhua news agency said that two suspected cases of bubonic plague reported in Khovd province in western Mongolia have been confirmed by lab test results. The confirmed cases are a 27-year-old resident and his 17-year-old brother, who are being treated at two separate hospitals in their province, it quoted a health official as saying.

The brothers ate marmot meat, the health official said, warning people not to eat marmot meat.

A total of 146 people who had contact with them have been isolated and treated at

local hospitals, according to Narangerel.

Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas

living on wild rodents such as marmots. It can kill an adult in

less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A couple died of bubonic plague in the western Mongolian province of Bayan-ulgii last year after eating raw marmot meat.