Pneumonic Plague Strikes China

Nevermind swine flu, China has a potentially bigger problem on its hands - the pneumonic plague has settled in one remote farming town. Three people have died at the hands of the disease so far, prompting authorities to kill rats and fleas on Tuesday as they disinfected and sealed off the town.

The town of Ziketan in Qinghai province in northwestern China is about 300 miles west of Beijing. Police have set up checkpoints around the town after the outbreak was first detected on Thursday. The pneumonic plague is a lung infection that can kill a person in as few as 24 hours if left untreated, and in a highly populated country like China, it is imperative to contain the outbreak so it does not spread to the larger population and cause mass deaths.

Medical staff are currently disinfecting the area, and are killing rodents and insects that are capable of being carriers for the bacteria. Authorities are also keeping close tabs on those people who have come into contact with those infected.

Authorities are also urging anyone who visited the town since mid-July and has developed a cough or fever to seek immediate hospital treatment. Pneumonic plague is spread easily through the air, and can be passed from person to person through coughing.

So far the plague has claimed three lives - a 32-year-old man, a 37-year-old man, and a 64-year-old man. The latest victim, the 64-year-old, was a neighbor of one of the earlier victims. An additional nine people, most relatives of the 32-year-old man, are also infected and hospitalized.

One of those hospitalized is in extremely serious condition, and another has developed symptoms of coughing and chest pain. The rest, however, are in stable condition and there are no reports of new infections.

One resident of the town of Ziketan said that police checkpoints were put up in a 17 mile radius, and that residents were not allowed to leave. Many shops remained closed on Tuesday.

Monday evening, some people tried to escape the quarantined area after the third death was revealed. They mostly traveled by foot, and were from other provinces. It was unclear if they made it past the police checkpoints, but if they did, China may have a bigger problem on its hands.

Pneumonic plague is one of the deadliest infectious diseases and can kill a person in just 24 hours after they have contracted the disease. It is caused by the same bacteria that causes bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death which killed an estimated 25 million in Europe during the Middle Ages. Bubonic plague, however, is usually transmitted by flea bites and is easily treated with antibiotics.