A town of 10,000 people in north west China has been sealed off from the outside world after an outbreak of deadly pneumonic plague. Skip related content
The town of Ziketan in Qinghai Province has been quarantined after a dozen people were infected with the highly contagious lung disease.
The outbreak has already claimed two lives. A herdsman died from the disease on Friday and his neighbour died on Sunday.
Another 10 people, mostly relatives of the dead men, were undergoing treatment in an isolation hospital. A team of medical experts are being flown into the remote town.
Health authorities are warning that anyone suffering from a cough or fever who has visited the town since the middle of last month should seek urgent medical attention.
There are fears the disease may have spread before the town was sealed off.
Pneumonic plague is easily transmitted through the air and can be passed from person to person by coughing. It is the same bacteria that occurs in bubonic plague.
The Black Death killed more than 25 million people throughout western europe in the Middle Ages.
According to the World Health Organisation, pneumonic plague is one of the deadliest infectious diseases and can kill within 24 hours of infection.
I'm not surprised really with the close living environment China seems to have. It's highly populated; as is the UK, or the UK will probably become so anyway.
the rats came first, with the plague of the 15th ish centurey which wiped out about one third of the population england and wales. And there were probably various ones before that too.
Illness/plagues/pandemics come in cycles. They're enevitable, but not apocolyptic.
"I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell." -Picasso
"No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war." - Picasso
'I have scars becuase I have a past; but they, like my past, do not define my future'
It's not even that bad, it's a perfectly treatable condition. You can still catch plague in Moroco, Algeria, etc as well but prompt treatment with antibiotics means the vast majority make a full recovery.
Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money.
They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
And if it wasn't this it would be another illness. History is littered with cases like this, and worse, and we're still here. Never underestimate the human race :)
"I grew up in Slough in the 1970's. If you want to know what Slough was like back then, go there now." -Jimmy carr
"Swimming is good for you. Speshly if you're drowning" - Jimmy carr
Me: Mum what are you doing for ur 20th anniversary? Mum: BIG party time! .. Dunno what your dads doing.
![[Purple_Rain]'s Avatar](image.php?s=9e1d061d92b614498fb64c384182f958&u=153&dateline=1251793099)
