Plague Quarantine Lifted in Mongolia

2 deaths due to bubonic plague.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Tourists have been permitted to leave the western Bayan Olgii province in Mongolia after a quarantine over bubonic plague ended.

The area bordering China and Russia, has been under a six-day quarantine due to the deaths of two individuals due to bubonic plague infection.

The two reportedly contracted the disease after ingesting raw marmot meat, a type of local rodent. The meal is a traditional remedy for good health. However, the rodent is a known carrier of the bacteria.

The World Health Organisation reports that 118 people were isolated and treated with prophylactic antibiotics, including several tourists from South Korea, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Switzerland.

The plague, typically transmitted from animals to humans by fleas, has a 30 per cent to 60 per cent fatality rate if untreated.

Symptoms include fever, nausea, chills and swollen lymph nodes in the groin, armpit or neck. However, symptoms in the early stages, which usually develop after three to seven days, appear flu-like.

The Black Death in the 14th cenutry, caused about 50 million deaths across Asia, Africa and Europe. An outbreak of plague in 19th century India and Century killed more than 12 million.

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