Chinese city issues epidemic warnings for PLAGUE after reporting a case of death

Chinese city locks down a neighbourhood and issues epidemic warnings for PLAGUE after reporting a case of death from the disease

• A resident of Baotou died of the enteric plague in Inner Mongolia on Sunday
• Officials have sealed off the area the person lived in and started deep cleaning
• They said the city was facing a potential epidemic of plague among humans
• Comes after the province detected an infection of the bubonic plague in July

By Billie Thomson For Mailonline

Published: 16:52 BST, 6 August 2020 | Updated: 16:56 BST, 6 August 2020

A Chinese city has locked down a neighbourhood and issued level-three epidemic warnings for plague after one of its residents died of the disease, according to a government notice.

The city of Baotou in northern China‘s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region said the person had contracted the enteric plague, one of the four forms of plague which attacks a person’s digestive system.

The unidentified individual died on Sunday after suffering circulatory system failure, the Baotou Health Committee said in a statement on Thursday.  

The death occurred at the Suji Estate at the town of Shibao in Darhan Muminggan United Banner near the Chinese border with Mongolia, according to Baotou government (file photo)

The news comes as the northern Chinese region detected a case of bubonic plague last month.

A herdsman from Bayan Nur was confirmed on July 4 to have the disease, known as the ‘Black Death’ in the Middle Ages. 

The latest fatality occurred at the Suji Estate at the town of Shibao in Darhan Muminggan United Banner near the Chinese border with Mongolia, the statement announced.

Officials have ordered the city to enter a precautionary warning period, which is set to last from today till the end of the year.

The city of Baotou in China’s Inner Mongolia said the person had contracted the enteric plague, one of the four forms of plague which attacks a person’s digestive system

Authorities have isolated nine people who had had close contact with the deceased, as well as their respective close contacts which amounted to 26.

All the quarantined residents have been sent to isolation camps, given precautionary drugs and taken polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detect the bacterium that causes plague.

None of them had a fever, and all their test results were negative, the statement said.

Officials have locked down Suji Estate to prevent the spread of the disease.

The government admitted that the city was facing a potential epidemic of plague among humans.

Officials have locked down the area where the deceased lived to prevent the spread of plague

Authorities said they had carried out door-to-door health checks for the locals and intensified anti-epidemic education.

They added that workers were thoroughly disinfecting the home of the deceased as well as the surrounding farmhouses daily. Officials have also launched a campaign to kill fleas and rodents.

None of the residents in Suji had a fever or tested positive for plague, the notice said.

Enteric plague, also known as the pharyngeal plague, can arise as a result of exposure to infectious aerosols or by ingestion of infected meat.

It is less common than the bubonic plague, one of the most devastating diseases in history, or the pneumonic plague, a severe lung infection.