Bubonic plague detected in Yunnan

Menghai county in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture, Yunnan province, activated a Level 4 public health emergency response on Friday after a case of bubonic plague was reported, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The case, a three-year-old child in a remote village in Xiding town, was confirmed to have glandular-type plague on Friday, according to a statement from local health authorities.

The statement said that the patient had mild symptoms and was in stable condition after treatment.

Three dead rats were found in the village, but what killed them was unknown. The Yunnan Provincial Institute of Endemic Disease Control and Prevention and the prefecture's Center for Disease Control and Prevention launched a field investigation and conducted laboratory tests.

In a preliminary assessment, health authorities said that bubonic plague had emerged in Xiding on Sept 21.

National and provincial experts arrived in Menghai as part of the emergency response. Teams of experts have made inspections, imposed quarantines and screened patients with fevers. People with suspected cases are being observed, and epidemiological work is going forward.

Meanwhile, a health campaign to eradicate fleas and rats has begun.

Xiding health authorities urged the public to report any dead rats and seek medical advice immediately in case of fever.

Song Zhizhong, director of the provincial disease control and prevention center said there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the glandular-type bubonic plague.

He added that no new suspected cases were found in the area.