Oh, good. There's a bubonic plague outbreak

[Recursion]

I was just thinking that 2020 was getting a little boring.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/06/asia/china-mongolia-bubonic-plague-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html

Authorities in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia are on high alert after a suspected case of bubonic plague, the disease that caused the Black Death pandemic, was reported Sunday.

The case was discovered in the city of Bayannur, located northwest of Beijing, according to state-run Xinhua news agency. A hospital alerted municipal authorities of the patient's case on Saturday. By Sunday, local authorities had issued a citywide Level 3 warning for plague prevention, the second lowest in a four-level system. The warning will stay in place until the end of the year, according to Xinhua.

Plague, caused by bacteria and transmitted through flea bites and infected animals, is one of the deadliest bacterial infections in human history. During the Black Death in the Middle Ages, it killed an estimated 50 million people in Europe. Modern antibiotics can prevent complications and death if administered quickly enough.

Bubonic plague, which is one of plague's three forms, causes painful, swollen lymph nodes, as well as fever, chills, and coughing.

[pdxflyboy]

1. There is also a Swine Flu detected again in China.

Correct?

[Recursion]

4. Yes, and a new Ebola outbreak in central Africa

What fascinating modern times we live in.

[central scrutinizer]

9. Mother Nature to humans:

“Hold my beer”

[geardaddy]

36. Bingo.

[Iliyah]

2. Oh my gawd. . .

Pig Flu and now this from China? Geez wiz, and with this current illegal government with an illegal person in the WH, GOD HELP US.

[essme]

3. It's always been in the US

I held a cat in the 80's that was diagnosed with it.

[Recursion]

6. Yeah, New Mexico, right?

I remember getting a warning about that years ago

[essme]

8. Nope. Asheville, NC

it's not unheard of; people just freak out and imagine a wagon going down the street with someone yelling, "Bring out your dead!". I posted a link below.

[cwydro]

10. I read your link, but saw nothing about NC.

Seemed to be all western states?

[Quemado]

17. Hantavirus?

There was a Hantavirus outbreak in the four corners area (AZ, NM, CO, UT) in May 1993.

https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/outbreaks/index.html

[C Moon]

37. I remember that. It was found (or believed) to have been caused...

by breathing in areas (like sheds) where there were lots of mouse feces.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

44. It's endemic to New Mexico, and most years we get a handful of cases.

Doctors here are aware of it, and are likely to diagnose quickly and correctly. People who visit, manage to get it, then return home, may not be so lucky.

Albuquerque has a science fiction con every year in August (not this year, however) called Bubonicon. And as I tell people, the name means exactly what it thinks you mean.

[MR. ELECTABLE]

21. They find it nearly every year in San Diego

They usually find it in squirrels in our area. They find it nearly every year when they randomly test animals.

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/deh/pests/plague.html

[wnylib]

26. Yeah, we've learned contain and treat it,

but the old pandemic that first started nearly 7 centuries ago still can create fear in people.

[drmeow]

51. Fleas in Arizona have it.

My understanding is that there are a handful of cases/year in the US and about 1000 or so world wide.

[dalton99a]

5. Doxycycline kills it.

[yellowcanine]

20. Bleach probably works also.

[raccoon]

50. Thank you. I was thinking, at least we know how to treat it. Nt

[essme]

7. Here's an article from last year:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/plague-exists-now-us/story?id=55860883

[AJT]

11. If caught early it is easily treatable.

A series of antibiotics does the trick.

[LAS14]

18. Yeah, but given where we live, guaranteed we'll run out of it early. nt

[KS Toronado]

30. Yea, tRumpie has probably sold off the government stockpile to his cronies.

[3Hotdogs]

12. I recall, it was '17 and I was driving west to photograph the eclipse. Anyways,...

I stopped at Badlands National Park. On the road is a colony of Prairie Dogs. Sign on the edge of the roadway, do not enter the colony. Plague exists.

Let me know if I need to continue the narrative.

[BComplex]

13. WTF ???? I'm sorry, but China is pretty much a totalitarian state. Why aren't they doing more

to stop all these horrible plagues and pandemics? Are all these coming out of China because they have so many people, or what?

[Caliman73]

22. Totalitarian doesn't mean well run or efficient.

They have these outbreaks because they have a great deal of land, a lot of people, densely packed in, and they are expanding into areas where there has been little human settlement.

Totalitarian governments are mostly about maintaining power, not about helping people. Like Trump, the goal is more to cover up information that will make them look bad than to jump in and take care of problems quickly.

[hatrack]

42. Rats, gophers, marmots, chipmunks, ground squirrels - all are reservoirs of plague bacteria

Here in the US, too, though mostly in western states.

It's just . . . out there, but in animal species we usually don't have much contact with.

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/transmission/index.html

[lindysalsagal]

14. Starting to know how they felt in Florence in 1348: Black Death

Wiped out 80% of them, and started the renaissance. It might be worth it if humans evolved into caring, compassionate beings....

[brush]

15. Damn! What else can fu_king happen? Please don't let this...

get over here. We've already seen how trump will let it run rampant here too.

[2naSalit]

23. It's been here since I can recall...

and we have Hanta virus warnings every year in my state. I know several people who have had it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

47. Well...,..(glances at the End of Mankind bingo card)

The Yellowstone Park eruption space is still open........

[cyclonefence]

16. Not with a bang but a whimper

[Aristus]

19. Relax, everybody. As dalton99a pointed out above, doxycycline can kill it.

Pretty easily, too. Although Yersinia pestis killed more people than almost any other plague in history due to its virulence, it doesn't last long against anti-microbials. As deadly as the disease itself is, the microbe chuckles weakly when faced with tetracyclines, then throws up the surrender flag.

We'll be all right as long as we don't get a huge crowd of assholes storming city halls loudly proclaiming their right to die a horrible agonizing death with swollen groins and armpits.

[gab13by13]

24. I also heard there are locusts somewhere.

Trump did hold the bible with Revelations facing forward.

[wnylib]

32. Several places are experiencing

plagues of desert locusts, but it's worst in eastern Africa right now - Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

[Traildogbob]

25. Let's focus on good news

In a time of mother nature’s rage. There is a brain eating amoeba in Florida. Obviously it will die off of starvation before the country has to worry.

[LudwigPastorius]

27. _

[live love laugh]

40. +100

[Dios Mio]

28. No social distancing. No social distancing.

[Mercurian]

29. Nah, it'll be fine

The bubonic strain can only spread if the fleas that spread it have the opportunity to reinfect themselves from the source periodically. That worked brilliantly in the 14th Century because the infected rats travelled with the infection. Unless/until Mongolian marmots start stowing away on Chinese airlines the rest of the world is pretty safe.
Pneumonic plague on the other hand..

[Renew Deal]

31. I came dressed for the occasion.

[kairos12]

33. Is it carried by Murder Hornets?

[live love laugh]

38. Probably nt

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

45. Probably not.

It's carried by fleas, and I suspect fleas don't live on murder hornets.

Of course, I might have missed that you were being sarcastic.

[Voltaire2]

48. only near olive garden restaurants.

[Historic NY]

34. good thing there aren't locusts...

oh never mind....

[C Moon]

35. From time to time, dead squirrels have been found with it in Southern California.

[Warpy]

39. There alway is and it's usually a lot closer than Mongolia

The west and southwest see a few cases every year. It's endemic here, the fleas hitching a ride on cats and dogs. It's curable if caught early.

[Recursion]

41. Right, that's an endemic situation, which is different from an outbreak

An outbreak means the disease has expanded from the areas where it is normally endemic.

[bringthePaine]

43. "...think I'll go for a walk...I feel happy! I feel..."*

*Monty Python and The Holy Grail

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

46. Marmots

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-cracks-down-on-marmot-hunting-after-bubonic-plague-alert/ar-BB16oQ6A?li=BBnb7Kz

[marie999]

49. We used to hike in the mountains of Yosemite National Park.

They had bubonic plague there.