Ulaanbaatar, July 25 (IANS). A suspected case of bubonic plague in Mongolia’s western Khovd province has been confirmed by laboratory tests. The National Center for Zoonotic Diseases (NCZD) said on Friday that final bacteriological tests confirmed the infection.
According to the NCZD, the infected person contracted the infection after eating marmot (a type of wild squirrel) meat during a trip to the Ulankhus area of neighboring Bayan-Ulgi province.
Health officials have urged people not to hunt marmots, not to handle its meat or internal organs and to avoid contact with dead or sick wild rodents. The Center warned that such activities significantly increase the risk of infection.
Although there is a legal ban on hunting marmots in Mongolia, some people still consider them a delicacy, leading to illegal hunting.
According to the NCZD, the risk of plague spread increases during the summer months because a large number of people travel to rural areas during this time and some people also eat marmot meat. During the same period in previous years, several cases of bubonic plague have been reported in Mongolia, in which some patients also died.
The center reported that 17 out of 21 provinces in Mongolia are currently in the category of plague-affected or high-risk areas.
Three cases of bubonic plague were confirmed in the country in September last year, two of which were in Khuvsgul province. All patients were treated at Khuvsgul Provincial General Hospital. 80 people who came in contact with the infected people were isolated and given treatment in local hospitals.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), bubonic plague is a bacterial disease spread through fleas that feed on wild rodents, especially animals such as marmots. If not treated on time, this disease can prove fatal within 24 hours.
WHO says plague has caused several major pandemics in history, including the ‘Black Death’ of the 14th century, which killed more than 50 million people in Europe. However, today this disease can be effectively treated with the help of antibiotics and general precautions.
According to WHO, plague is found in all continents except Oceania. Most human cases have been reported in Africa since the 1990s. Currently DRC, Madagascar and Peru are among the countries most affected by this disease.
–IANS
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