According to the health officials, a herdsman in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia was confirmed to be infected with bubonic plague. The Bayannur city health commission confirmed that the plague was diagnosed in the herdsman.
What is bubonic plague?
The bubonic plague disease is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium and is transmitted by fleas that become infected by rodents.
In Inner Mongolia, the host is often marmots that live in rural areas.
The disease has caused the Black Death in the Middle Ages.
Differences between bubonic plague and pneumonic plague
In November 2019, two people from Inner Mongolia were found to have pneumonic plague.
The pneumonic plague is another form of plague caused by the same bacterium.
Pneumonic plague is the only form that can be transmitted person to person, through respiratory droplets.
According to the World Health Organisation, if not treated, pneumonic plague is invariably fatal, while bubonic plague is fatal in about 30 percent to 60 percent of untreated cases.
Source: The New York Times
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