(China) Farmers catch plague from contact with/eating wild marmots

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PLAGUE, FATAL - CHINA (QINGHAI)

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A ProMED-mail post

<http://www.promedmail.org>

 

Fatal plague in Qinghai brought under control

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An outbreak of plague in Northwest China that killed 8 villagers is

reportedly under control. A total of 19 plague cases were reported

across 4

counties in the central and eastern parts of Qinghai Province between

4-9

Oct 2004, said a Ministry of Health spokesman yesterday [28 Oct 2004].

No

outbreaks have been detected in other areas, said the spokesman.

 

8 people died, while the 11 who survived have all recovered, said a

circular issued by the provincial health bureau on Wednesday [27 Oct

2004].

The majority of the infected were farmers and herdsmen who caught the

disease after killing or eating wild marmots, said the circular.

However,

the cause of several cases in Nangqen County is still under

investigation.

 

The counties of Ulan, Huangyuan, and Madoi have lifted medical

quarantine,

and Nangqen is expected to come out of isolation soon, said the

circular.

 

After the outbreak, the Ministry of Health sent a work team to the

affected

areas to offer medical guidance, said the spokesman.

 

The Qinghai Provincial Health Bureau also took a series of measures to

distribute medicine, curb the spread of the disease, and strengthen

supervision on the marmot market. Marmots are related to gophers and

prairie dogs. They usually live in the grasslands of China's

northwestern

regions and Mongolia, where villagers often hunt them for meat.

 

Late in August 2004, the Ministry of Health reported 2 plague cases in

Qinghai and its neighboring Gansu Province. One person died.

 

Plague is a somewhat general term that applies to a number of

contagious,

often fatal, bacterial diseases transmitted by fleas from infected rats

and

by contact with infected blood or tissue. The most common form, bubonic

plague, can cause high fever, delirium, and swollen lymph nodes.

 

The ministry spokesman said some grass-roots medical workers do not have

a

full awareness of the importance of plague prevention and control. He

said

the ministry has ordered local health authorities to improve their

plague

monitoring system and to draw up an emergency plan against plague

outbreaks.

 

Cases of rats and marmots dying of plague, suspected plague patients,

and

cases of high-fever without a known reason must all be reported to the

ministry in time, said the spokesman.

 

--

ProMED-mail

<promed

 

[infection caused by _Yersinia pestis_ occurs when humans become

accidental

hosts in the normal cycle of transmission between rodents from the bite

of

a flea. Humans may be infected by a flea bite or directly by contact

with

body fluids of a rodent. The usual result is bubonic plague, which may

progress to bacteremia, occasionally with localization in the lungs and

pneumonia. Rarely, humans may directly infect each other, usually when

one

has pneumonic plague. The mode of transmission in most of the cases in

this

report was by direct contact with an infected rodent (marmot) - Mod.DK].

 

[see also:

Plague, fatal - China (Gansu, Qinghai) 20040901.2429

2000

----

Plague, bubonic - Mongolia & China: background (03) 20000924.1645

Plagueague, bubonic - Mongolia & China: background (02) 20000920.1620

Plague, bubonic - Mongolia & China: Background 20000802.1290]

..................jw/dk/msp/dk