Unconfirmed report: Pneumonic plague outbreak in Tobruk, Libya - NOT

[Giuseppe]

Plague, Libya: NOT (EpiSouth, November 24 2011, edited)

[Source: EpiSouth, full PDF document: (LINK). Extract, edited.]

(?)


REPORT OF NEW HEALTH EVENTS OCCURRING INSIDE THE EPISOUTH AREA

(Occurring in one or several EpiSouth countries)


Location: Libya - Event: Plague


On 4th November 2011, an outbreak of plague in Tobruk, Libya, was reported through Promed (non official) with more than 23 cases, including pneumonic plague cases.

• No evidence of confirmed cases of plague in Libya has been found through epidemic intelligence.
• The national health authorities of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya refuted this information and sent the following information:
  • ?According to the national committee for plague control in Libya and the feedback we obtained from plague laboratories and the local hospital in Tubrok, there have been no confirmed cases recorded this year.
  • Furthermore, laboratory technicians and doctors in Tubrok have gained good experience from dealing with previous outbreaks and are well trained on diagnosis and case management thus mortality is very unlikely to occur anyway.?

Comments
Apart from some foci, North Africa is no longer considered as endemic for plague (cf. map 2).

The last outbreak of plague reported in the country was in 2009, with 12 cases (cf.eWEB n? 65 and Eurosurveillance article, 2009).


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[alert]

Re: Unconfirmed report: Pneumonic plague outbreak in Tobruk, Libya

Here is a similar report to the first post, and notably contains the date June 4. That's too early for the 2009 "outbreak" (with first post June 15, 2009), but is well-timed to the 2011 false report (with first post May 20, 2011), and there was fighting in eastern Libya in June.

This may be an echo of a false report from June 2011 that we just did not get because of its source language.

http://russ-inf-front.livejournal.com/54630.html

Bacteriological weapons? - In Libya, the plague!

June 4th, 23:04 June 4th, 23:04 Pathos Ydoni пишет : «НОВОСТИ из Тобрука ! Pathos Ydoni writes: "News from Tobruk! IMPORTANT - READ AND DISTRIBUTE!

Last week, recorded seven deaths and more than 23 cases of infection with plague. Disease over the last few days is distributed, and as life for another 10 citizens plague. Information from the hospital - there is talk of pneumonic plague, the diagnosis of plague. Untreated, the infection can lead to death within one to six days, the mortality rate in the absence of treatment is about 100%.
So many of our people in Tobruk die because of the so-called "rebels" who turned in a hospital clinic for mercenaries were wounded in the fighting.
It is urgent to let people know that if they feel sick, so hurry to the hospital and asked for treatment and return to the hospital of the mercenaries.
Please spread the news and who has access to health care organizations to enable them to report the crime, which is against the people of Tobruk contucted - mercenaries have left them without access to the hospital! "

[alert]

Re: Report: Pneumonic plague outbreak in Tobruk, Libya

Now here's the problem with the above report. This is a single source, in Russian language claiming to be from Ukrainian doctors in Libya. We have already had two false reports of plague outbreaks (bubonic, not pneumonic) from the city of Tobruk in the past two years:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=110524 (2009)

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=168469 (2011)

So it remains unclear at this point what is going on. The fact that there are 200+ articles in the 2009 thread may make searching this one extremely difficult, as we need to make sure we are not reposting echo stories, but the above post does not appear to be an echo of any story in either thread. The 2009 thread indicates that there were confirmed human plague cases in Tobruk in the 1970s and 1980s. There may also be a timing issue; the report is dated November 3, but there has not been active fighting in Tobruk (in eastern Libya) in quite some time.

I can see a slight political bias in the above post perhaps wanting to blame NATO operation in Libya for an outbreak, but it is impossible to tell whether this is just a false explanation, or a false report.

[alert]

http://www.promedmail.org/ru

Published Date: 2011-11-04 17:10:27
Subject: Foreign epidobozrenie - plague, pneumonic form, suspicion (Libya)
Archive Number: 20111104.136683


Foreign epidobozrenie - plague, pneumonic form, suspicion (Libya)
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Date: November 4, 2011
From: ProMED-mail correspondent BM
Source: Agency: "Independent Military Review", November 3, 2011 (abridged) [Mod.NP]

http://nvo.ng.ru/wars/2011-11-03/1_livia.html

Information resource UAINFO reported that in Libya is rapidly spreading pneumonic form of plague.

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Information resource UAINFO reported that in Libya is rapidly spreading pneumonic form of plague. The first deaths of pneumonic plague reported in the port city of Tobruk, which is located on the rebel-held east of the country. The exact cause of mass infection is not yet established, but the chances of NATO bacteriological weapons [This my be a translation error interchanging the subject and object of the sentence. - alert]. Not surprisingly, the disease spreads in just those areas that have undergone intense bombardment. We also learned that in Libya NATO military used banned chemical bombs.
The message of Ukrainian doctors working in Libya, said: "Last week, recorded seven deaths and more than 23 cases of infection with plague. Particularly dangerous infections in the past few days has spread that cost the lives of 10 other citizens. While they can not find the exact cause of the spread of plague. Without treatment the infection can lead to death within one to six days, mortality in the absence of treatment is virtually 100%. " Found in Libya, Ukrainian and Russian doctors are alarmed infected with pneumonic plague, people can not receive adequate medical care, as insurgents have turned to the hospital clinic for mercenaries were wounded in the fighting


[Comment Mod.NP.V date information on the distribution of pneumonic plague in Libya contained in only one Internet source, the duplication of information, other information sources, or any official announcement to confirm or refute this information could not be found. In the case of the reliability of the information, this event will provide an emergency public health emergency of international concern (IHR 2005), but, meanwhile, Libya is not a member state of the IHR
- Mod.NP]