Bubonic plague outbreak recorded in China

The fourth case of bubonic plague, a deadly disease, has already been recorded in the Chinese Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia According to Reuters, citing local health authorities, a new case of plague was reported from a rural shepherd in Siziwang.

The patient is now in stable condition after treatment at a local hospital. Another four people were quarantined. Pulmonary plague was diagnosed in a 55-year-old man who ate wild hare meat.

The plague is a dangerous bacterial disease that primarily affects wild rodents and spreads from one animal to another with fleas. People who have been bitten by an infected flea usually get the bubonic form of the plague.

If the bacteria reach the lungs, the patient develops pneumonia - the plague takes on a pulmonary form and then is transmitted from person to person by airborne droplets when coughing. If diagnosed in a timely manner, bubonic plague can be treated with antibiotics.