Bubonic plague case reported in China

As if a novel coronavirus wasn’t enough.

Local health authorities in China’s Inner Mongolia region announced a suspected positive case of bubonic plague Sunday.

Health officials in Bayannur said a farmer was sickened and hospitalized but is in stable condition, China’s Global Times reported.

The city also raised its alert level for plague illness, telling residents to not hunt wild animals, to report any sick or dead marmots and to report any person showing possible signs of infection. The alert level was at its second lowest in a four level system, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, the warning follows four suspected cases of plague in Inner Mongolia last November, including two cases of pneumonic plague.

Also last year, a Mongolian couple died from the bubonic plague after eating raw marmot meat.

Bubonic plague is one of three forms of the infectious disease caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria. According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bubonic plague is usually contracted after an infected flea bite.

Although tied to historic pandemics like the Black Death, plague illnesses do still occur around the world and in the United States every year, though they are rare. Modern antibiotics have significantly lowered plagues’ mortality rate.

Symptoms of bubonic plague can include fever, headache, chills, weakness and swollen lymph nodes, the CDC says. The bacteria can spread to other parts of the body if untreated.

While plague is entirely unrelated to the novel coronavirus, the warning from officials in Bayannur comes as China has gone weeks without reporting a new death from the virus.