CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited): 12 cases (with three deaths, one in critical condition, 218 in hospital)

[wotan]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Thanks, I hadn't considered the possibility of inhaling Y. pestis from a non-human source, similar to one of the ways Anthrax can be spread.

 

[alert]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

That is another thing I didn't think of. While his actions could have aerosolized the bacteria in animal tissue, he could also have had contact with an animal that already had pneumonic plague (as a consequence of its bubonic plague) and was coughing up bacteria.

Given that his profession has been stated as a herdsman, I assume his exposure involves an ill animal in some form. We may never know the details.

 

[wotan]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

That is another thing I didn't think of. While his actions could have aerosolized the bacteria in animal tissue, he could also have had contact with an animal that already had pneumonic plague (as a consequence of its bubonic plague) and was coughing up bacteria.

Given that his profession has been stated as a herdsman, I assume his exposure involves an ill animal in some form. We may never know the details.

Very quick research only points to rodents and humans is being infected with Y. pestis. A rodent die-off would likely have been noticed. Are there other animals that can be infected?

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Xinhua Xining, August 3 (Xinhua Lu Shirley) reporter learned from the Health Department of Qinghai Province, Qinghai, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of the pneumonic plague outbreak occurred in deaths increased to 3 people today, the treatment of hospitalized cases of nine cases of isolation, of which one cases of critically ill , and one cases of patients with cough, sputum, chest pain symptoms, no new cases.

Qinghai Hainan Department of Health today received a state hospital designated pneumonic plague report Xinghai County added one cases of death, the deceased Dan Moses, M, 64-year-old. This is the second yesterday after the death of yet another case of pneumonic plague.

Plague in Qinghai Province has been on-site emergency command forces and expert medical treatment done to further enhance the added national clinical experts and clinical experts in the province to continue medical treatment. Provincial, state, and county levels in the areas of health professionals continue to carry out disinfection, pest, rodent control work, the continued implementation of the close contact tracing and quarantine management and seizure diagnosis.

Hainan, Qinghai Province Xinghai County, son of the state Division Town on July 30 found that pneumonic plague outbreak, a total of 12 cases of confirmed cases.

http://news.china.com/zh_cn/news100/11038989/20090803/15585725.html

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

There was an article yesterday stating that the initial case'a dog had died evidently of plague and he buried it.

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

There was an article yesterday stating that the initial case'a dog had died evidently of plague and he buried it.

That would certainly do it. Just about all mammals can get plague. We had a ProMed posting involving an outbreak in Saudi Arabia caused by eating an infected camel, for example. His dog might have had bubonic plague which turned into pneumonic, and he could have had contact with the coughing dog.

Alternatively, during the burial of the dog, he could have aerosolized the bacteria in the body of the dead dog. I have no idea what bizarre rituals might be involved in the funeral of a dog in western China.

Unfortunately, as all 12 individuals were already ill when this was diagnosed as plague, I expect few of them to survive.

I belive that article that mentions the third death also mentions a 13th possible suspect case (which would indicate that all 12 previous cases are confirmed), although the translation is a little poor. I also think Dan Moses is not the name of the third death - that is the translator goofing up.

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

There seems to be no new cases. The one that died today was from the group hospitalized as the last two deaths they took two away from the hospitalized list. "no new cases"

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

There seems to be no new cases. The one that died today was from the group hospitalized as the last two deaths they took two away from the hospitalized list. "no new cases"

You might be right. What is the mention of "and one cases of patients with cough, sputum, chest pain symptoms" though?

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Qinghai pneumonic plague death toll to 3 at 22:25 on August 3, 2009 HONG 【Big Middle Small】 【Print】 0 users HONG Xining comment August 3 (Xinhua early morning) and lead to pneumonic plague today the death of a patient, making areas of Xinghai County, pneumonic plague death toll to 3.

According to local health department: As of 20:00 today, the epidemic no additional confirmed and suspected cases of plague. However, the existing 9 patients, 1 patients in a critical condition, one cases of patients with severe, the basic stability of the remaining patients, from the national and clinical experts in Qinghai Province to continue medical treatment.

http://finance.ifeng.com/roll/20090803/1033348.shtml

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Thank you for the answer. It was a description of the condition of another one of the 9 patients.

 

[peter m]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Time to re-read 'The Plague', by Albert Camus. The acct of a spread of bubonic plague originally started by rats in the city of Oran, Algeria. Fictionalized acct set in a novel form but based upon a real bubonic plague outbreak during the 1940's.

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Another article states that from an interview of the people they have set up the quarentine 17 miles radius out from the outside of the town. Huge big area being quarentined. No one allowed in or out.

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

http://news.aol.com/article/town-in-china-sealed-off-due-to/599505

Town Sealed Off After Deadly OutbreakBy GILLIAN WONG, AP
posted: 38 MINUTES AGOcomments: 60filed under: World NewsPRINT|E-MAILMOREText SizeAAABEIJING (Aug. 3)- A second man has died of pneumonic plague in northwest China, in an outbreak that prompted authorities to lock down a town where about a dozen people were infected with the highly contagious deadly lung disease, a state news agency said.
The World Health Organization office in China said it was in close contact with Chinese health authorities and that measures taken so far to treat and quarantine sickened people were appropriate.
The man who died Sunday was identified only as 37-year-old Danzin from Ziketan, the stricken town in Qinghai province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Danzin was a neighbor of the first person who died, a 32-year-old herdsman whose name was not given. Another 10 people, mostly relatives of the first deceased man, were infected and undergoing isolated treatment in hospital, Xinhua said in a report late Sunday.
The town of 10,000 people has been sealed off and a team of experts was sent to the area, the local health bureau said Sunday, warning that anyone with a cough or fever who visited the town since mid-July should seek treatment at a hospital.
A food seller surnamed Han at the Crystal Alley Market in Ziketan said authorities have said homes and shops should be disinfected and residents should wear masks when they go out. He said 80 percent of shops in the town were closed and prices of disinfectants and some vegetables have tripled.
"People are so scared. There are few people on the streets," Han said by telephone. "There are police guarding the quarantine center at the township hospital but not on the streets."
The situation in Ziketan was stable, said an official surnamed Wang at the local disease control center, who added the measures taken were "scientific, orderly, effective and in accordance with the law."
A woman who lives in Ziketan, who refused to give her name, said county officials distributed flyers and made TV and radio announcements on how to prevent infection. The woman contacted by phone said police checkpoints were set up in a 17-mile (28-kilometer) radius around Ziketan and residents were not allowed to leave.
Pneumonic plague is spread through the air and can be passed from person to person through coughing, according to the World Health Organization. It is caused by the same bacteria that occurs in bubonic plague ? the Black Death that killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Bubonic plague is usually transmitted by flea bite and can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed early. Pneumonic plague is one of the deadliest infectious diseases, capable of killing humans within 24 hours of infection, according to the WHO.
People infected with pneumonic plague must be given antibiotics within 24 hours of first showing symptoms, while people who have had direct contact with those infected can protect themselves by taking antibiotics for seven days, according to the Web site of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
The WHO's spokeswoman in China, Vivian Tan, said China reported the first death and 11 other cases to the organization on Saturday.
"In cases like this, we encourage the authorities to identify cases, to investigate any suspicious symptoms among close contacts and to treat confirmed cases as soon as possible. So far, they have done exactly that, so at this point we don't have any additional advice," Tan said.
In 2004, eight villagers in Qinghai province died of plague, most of them infected after killing or eating wild marmots. Marmots are related to gophers and prairie dogs. They live in the grasslands of China's northwest and Mongolia, where villagers often hunt them for meat.

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

That last line in the article makes me wonder: Perhaps his "dog" is not a dog at all, but a marmot. There was a previous incident described on ProMed where a plague outbreak was attributed to dogs, and by dogs they meant marmots.

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f...,F2400_P1001_USE_ARCHIVE:1202,20070809.2589,Y

Date: Tue 7 Aug 2007
From: Merritt Clifton <anmlpepl@whidbey.com>


This may involve translation errors at some point, as many Asian dialects
reputedly call marmots "dogs", just as we call ground squirrels "prairie dogs".

--
Merritt Clifton
Editor
Animal People Magazine

 

[Rwilmer]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

That is interesting, the prairie dog is in the rodent family. If I apply this to the information I found in an article. The prarie dog died and he buried it. He might have gotten bit by the fleas that were on it. Then develped pneumonic plague and transmitted it to others.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Pneumonic plague kills 3rd man in NW China province (Xinhua, edited)

Pneumonic plague kills 3rd man in NW China province

www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-04 00:16:21
XINING, Aug. 3 (Xinhua)


Pneumonic plague claimed a third victim in northwest China's Qinghai Province on Monday, local health authorities said.

The victim was a man named Danzhi, 64, from the town of Ziketan, in Xinghai county in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The outbreak, which began July 30 and has caused a further nine people in the town to become ill, has already killed a 32-year-old herdsman and one of his neighbors, a 37-year-old man.

Of the nine patients in quarantined, one is in a serious condition and another has developed symptoms of coughing and chest pain. Most of the affected townspeople are relatives of the first dead man.

There has been no report of new infections.

Medical staff are disinfecting the region and tracking down people who have been in close contact with those affected by the plague

The local government has quarantined the town and its vicinity. The area has adequate essential supplies and the quarantine has not disrupted the locals' lives. Those who have been in Ziketan and its vicinity since July 16 who show symptoms of fever and coughing have been ordered to report to the nearest hospital.

The town covers 3,000 square kilometers and has a population of 10,000.

Pneumonic plague is one of the deadliest infectious diseases; patients can die 24 hours after infection, says the World Health Organization.

Editor: Mu Xuequan
-
​

<cite cite="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/04/content_11820784.htm">Pneumonic plague kills 3rd man in NW China province_English_Xinhua</cite>

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

That is interesting, the prairie dog is in the rodent family. If I apply this to the information I found in an article. The prarie dog died and he buried it. He might have gotten bit by the fleas that were on it. Then develped pneumonic plague and transmitted it to others.

That is certainly the most likely possiblility, but as we mentioned above, not the only one. He likely had multiple exposures (to the ill dog itself, to bacteria in the skin, maybe to fleas, maybe even to another ill animal that infected both him and the "dog"). We also need to be more careful in our use of the term dog. The animal is NOT a prairie dog like we have in the US. It might be an ordinary dog, but it also might be a marmot.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Source: http://news.enorth.com.cn/system/2009/08/04/004148358.shtml

Google translation:

Plague is transmitted mainly rodents and rodents.

Qinghai Provincial Health Department said in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province pneumonic plague outbreak occurred in deaths to 3 people, the treatment of hospitalized cases of nine cases of isolation, of which one cases of critically ill, and one cases of patients with cough, sputum, chest pain symptoms, without new cases.

Qinghai Hainan Health Department yesterday received a state hospital designated pneumonic plague report Xinghai County added one cases of death, the deceased Dan Moses, M, 64-year-old. This is the second the day before yesterday, after the death of yet another case of pneumonic plague.

Plague in Qinghai Province has been on-site emergency command forces and expert medical treatment done to further enhance the added national clinical experts and clinical experts in the province to continue medical treatment. Provincial, state, and county levels in the areas of health professionals continue to carry out disinfection, pest, rodent control work, the continued implementation of the close contact tracing and quarantine management and seizure diagnosis.

Foci have been closed around the control

Qinghai Provincial Health Department has just released information, as of today (three days) 20:00, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province Xinghai County has confirmed 12 cases of pneumonic plague cases to increase the death, so death to three cases of patients. Foci in Qinghai Province has been closed in accordance with the law control, to effectively control the epidemic; adequate protection of local materials, the normal order of production and daily life.

9 cases of patients are to continue in the designated hospital for isolation and treatment, in which case of patients in a critical condition and one in patients with severe, and the remaining basically stable patients, national clinical experts and clinical experts in the province to continue medical treatment.

Health emergency by the State Ministry of Health, Liang Wannian, deputy director of the Office of the expert group, led by the epidemic areas is currently at the scene to conduct field epidemiological investigation; guidance on diagnosis of close contacts of patients and quarantine treatment, follow-up management; Xinghai Beach County Sub-Branch the town and the surrounding areas have been closed in accordance with the law control, and close contacts of patients diagnosed in the designated isolation hospital for treatment.

July 30, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province Xinghai County Town Sub-Division suspected outbreak of plague. According to clinical manifestations, epidemiological investigation and laboratory test results, the experts identified as pneumonic plague. 12 cases diagnosed in the first case of the death of a 32-year-old male herdsmen. 9 cases of patients are to continue in the designated hospital for isolation and treatment, in stable condition.

Experts remind that after July 16 this year who have been to focus the staff, if there is fever, cough and other symptoms, should be promptly treated to the local disease control agency.

Plague is caused by Yersinia pestis potent natural foci of infectious diseases, China will be classified as Type of its infectious diseases, clinical mainly high fever, lymph node swelling and pain, bleeding tendency, pulmonary inflammation, such as special, if not treated with very high fatality rate, commonly known as "the Black Death." Animals and the spread of human plague rat fleas mainly for the media, can be transmitted through droplets atomized other patients.

There are indications that the outbreak in Qinghai Province over the past decade is the emergence of the third epidemic, May 17, 2001 Tongde County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Hebei rural village sheep race 29-year-old Tibetan Youth Day Sang Nuri, death due to shelling from the wild was狐狸皮infected flea bites. October 3, 2004, Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture海西蒙ulaan Han County, a middle-aged men, a result of peeling and eating meat infected with the plague Marmota. These two outbreaks have been quickly and effectively control, did not result in large-scale epidemic.

Xinghai County, Qinghai Province is located in the south-west, 67,000 people throughout the county. There is an outbreak of the sub-Branch Town scattered population, the death of the patient are the local herdsmen, confirmed the relatives of the deceased patients.

As far as I know, in Qinghai Province Health Department issued an emergency order to local people hundreds of thousands of mouse anti-science materials.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Source: http://www.xawb.com/gb/news/2009-08/04/content_1499757.htm

Google translation:

Tracking the epidemic of plague in Qinghai: the occurrence and the hospital have been blocked
Manuscripts time: 2009-08-04 05:48 Source: Xi'an Evening News

By Xinghai County, Qinghai Province found that the plague epidemic, the national attention. At present, the initial outbreak of plague under control, sub-Division Town and the surrounding areas have been blocked to control in accordance with the law.

Herdsmen dead dogs buried the first four days of death

Journalists to visit that the epidemic occurred in Xinghai county in Qinghai Province Town Sub-Division Huang Village, most of the villagers living in the livestock industry. 12 patients infected with the plague, the first infected person was a 32-year-old male pastoralists, have been killed and other infections were mainly relatives of the deceased. Xinghai county in the People's Hospital, medical and nursing staff on duty, told reporters the first course of patients infected with the plague: "He's the dog died suddenly after he buried the dog, the dog buried the next day he incidence, and the first He died four days, and funerals, and several relatives also infected, (funerals of) the third day on the incidence and morbidity after the possession of the hospital in time to, possession of the hospital so many people feel it is a home infectious diseases must be immediately reported, we have taken some protective measures, after examination is positive, so now all been isolated. "

The epidemic will not spread to other villages

Medical staff told reporters that the village is very safe at present other villagers, the land belonging to pastoral areas, dispersed population in particular, relatively few people who come into contact with people who are in observation has been more than five days, and no new outbreak was found.

Sub-Division Town a total of eight villages, most villages are located in located in scattered "Sanjiangyuan" State Nature Reserve, the col, the long distances between villages. The reporter learned from Xinghai County Health Department learned that the disease will not spread to other villages.

At present, Huang outbreak in the village and the plague-infected persons treated Xinghai County Hospital has been isolated Tibetan blockade, exposure to pathogens and to observe the villagers are being treated. Guang-Zhong

 

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Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

Re: CHINA: QINGHAI, PNEUMONIC PLAGUE (from ProMedMail.org, edited)

And the above post finally contains the reference to the dead dog (marmot?).