China seals off town after plague kills three

Y PESTIS BACTERIA: Officials in China have sealed off a town after plague killed two residents.

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China has sealed off a remote far-western town of 10,000 people after a third person died of pneumonic plague.

Another 10 people have contracted the disease, a lung infection that can kill a human in 24 hours if left untreated, in the ethnically Tibetan region of the sparsely populated province of Qinghai, Xinhua news agency said.

The town of Ziketan and the surrounding region had been closed off and medical staff are disinfecting the area, the Health Ministry said. Authorities have urged anyone who had visited the town since mid-July and has developed a cough or fever, to seek hospital treatment.

China experiences periodic outbreaks of plague, which is caused by the same bacteria that causes bubonic plague — the Black Death that killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages. Bubonic plague is usually transmitted by flea bites.

Pneumonic plague occurs when the bacteria infects the lungs, or after complications from bubonic plague that goes untreated.

People infected with the plague usually experience flu-like symptoms including fever, chills, muscle aches, vomiting and nausea, after an incubation period of three-seven days. If treated early with antibiotics, plague is curable.

But the WHO said it was not unduly concerned.

"This is not new," said Beijing-based WHO spokeswoman Vivian Tan. "There have been sporadic cases reported over the years. We're not surprised that it's come up. We're in constant contact with the authorities to make sure things are under control."

She also said the fact that the outbreak had occurred in a remote part of the country "should help to mitigate" the impact.

An official at the Qinghai government's health department said authorities were confident of keeping the outbreak under control.

"There's no possibility of it spreading," said the official, who only provided his family name, Li. "We have already closed off the infected area. We are currently treating those who are sick."

- Reuters