Inner Mongolia reports three sites infected with bubonic plague after herdsman infected
- Health authorities say all sites have been treated and disinfected and there is little chance of the disease causing an epidemic
- Tourism leader urges tourists to consider Inner Mongolia grasslands as a destination, being far from the affected sites
One of the sites was in Wengeng township, Bayannur, where the patient, a herdsman, lived. Four dead rats discovered on June 18 were later found to be infected with Yersinia pestis, the plague bacteria, said Fu Ruifeng, deputy director of the Inner Mongolia Health Commission, at a news briefing on Tuesday.
The other two sites were not named, but Fu said all three sites had been disinfected and planes had been deployed to spread drugs to kill fleas, which can transmit the bacteria.
Xu Xiaoyuan, deputy head of the infectious diseases department at Peking University First Hospital, said the disease was endemic, meaning it only occurred in certain areas, and the public should not panic.
“It is usually found among animals in remote areas. People will be fine if they don’t go to these areas and the transmission is contained in the infected area,” Xu said.
The patient had been living and working near the site and had no contact with another bubonic plague patient or anyone with a fever in the 10 days before being diagnosed. The patient also denied skinning any wild animals or being in contact with dead animals.