PlagueChinese authorities seal off city after bubonic plague death last week
Chinese authorities have sealed off the city of Yumen, in the north-western province of Gansu, and 151 people have been quarantined since last week after a man died of bubonic plague. The 30,000 residents of the city are not being allowed to leave, and police at roadblocks on the perimeter of the city are preventing people from going into the city, instructing motorists to find alternative routes.
Chinese authorities have sealed off the city of Yumen, in the north-western province of Gansu, and 151 people have been quarantined since last week after a man died of bubonic plague. The 30,000 residents of the city are not being allowed to leave, and police at roadblocks on the perimeter of the city are preventing people from going into the city, instructing motorists to find alternative routes.
The Guardian reports that a 38-year-old man died last Wednesday after he had been in contact with a dead marmot, a small furry animal related to the squirrel. No further plague cases have so far been reported.
The China Daily reports that four quarantine sectors had been set up in the city.
“The city has enough rice, flour and oil to supply all its residents for up to one month,” China Central Television (CCTV) reported. “Local residents and those in quarantine are all in stable condition.”
Bubonic plague is a bacterial infection best known for the Black Death, a virulent epidemic which killed tens of millions of people in fourteenth-century Europe. Primarily an animal illness, it is extremely rare in humans.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says modern antibiotics are effective in treating plague, but that without prompt treatment the disease can cause serious illness or death.
