A hunter who killed and ate a wild rabbit on north China’s Mongolian steppe contracted bubonic plague, Chinese health officials said Monday, days after two other people from the same region were diagnosed with an even deadlier strain of the disease.1
Last week two patients from Xilingol League were diagnosed with pneumonic plague in Beijing. No epidemiological association was found between the bubonic and pneumonic cases, according to authorities.2
The hunter, a 55-year-old man in China’s Inner Mongolia, contracted the disease on Nov. 5 and came into contact with 28 people who were subsequently quarantined, Chinese officials said.1
At least 1,000 people a year catch the plague, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which they acknowledge is probably a modest estimate given the number of unreported cases.3
The three most endemic countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.
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1. A hunter ate wild rabbit and got bubonic plague, sending 28 people into quarantine Washington Post
2. One plague case reported in Inner Mongolia Xinhua
3. Hunter in China catches bubonic plague after eating a wild rabbit CNN
