According to the website of the Health Commission of Bayannaoer City, Inner Mongolia, on July 5, a herder in Wengeng Town, Wulat Zhongqi, Bayannaoer City, was diagnosed with a case of bubonic plague. At present, the patient has been isolated and treated in a local hospital and is in stable condition.
The plague hasn't gone extinct yet? What kind of rats are susceptible to spreading plague? The Jiefang Daily Shangguan News reporter interviewed Chen Anguo, a researcher at the Institute of Subtropical Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It can be affected by cats, dogs, pigs and cows, and can also be transmitted to people through fleas
On November 12, 2019, two people in Sunit Zuoqi, Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia, were diagnosed with pneumonic plague cases. "In some parts of pastoral areas such as Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Qinghai, due to the large number and wide dispersion of wild hosts that can preserve plague bacteria, they will become the natural source of plague." Chen Anguo introduced that due to the different ways in which plague bacteria invade the human body, that is, the first site of infection of patients is different, plague can be manifested as different types of diseases - bubonic plague infected by lymph glands, pneumonic plague infected through the lungs, and septic blood types infected by blood, these 3 disease types are the most common and most sinister. Different parts of the infection will have different symptoms, bubonic plague patients will have high fever, lymph node pain and ulceration, etc., pneumonic plague patients will have fever, cough, etc., plague patients before death fingers, toes and skin will be blackened, so plague is also called "black death".
"A lot of people think that the plague has long been eradicated. In fact, the possibility of contracting the plague has been lurking around humans. Chen Anguo said.
From the 3rd century BC to the end of the 19th century, there were three worldwide plague pandemics around the world, claiming more than 300 million lives, far more than the number of people killed in all wars around the world combined. After the 1940s, although the worldwide plague pandemic did not occur, the epidemic on a smaller scale never stopped. "China lists plague as a Class A infectious disease, commonly known as 'disease no. 1'. Y. pestis is highly contagious, can be transmitted through fleas, contact, respiratory tract and digestive tract, etc., can be infected and transmitted in cats, dogs, pigs and cattle, and can also be directly transmitted to people through rat fleas. With the exception of those who have been vaccinated or have been cured of plague, humans are generally highly susceptible to plague. ”
The plague is relatively well controlled in China, and there is no need to "talk about rat discoloration"
Is plague transmitted by domestic rats? "Plague has long been present in wild animals, especially rodents." Chen Anguo introduced that there are 186 species of rodents that can infect and transmit plague in the world, and there are more than 40 species in China, such as marmots on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, weasels on the Songliao Plain, giant gerbils in the Jungar Basin, sand marmots in the Inner Mongolia Plateau and rats in Yunnan.
Marmots, it's the marmot. Don't look at it cute, but it is a stable reservoir of plague bacteria, with a high rate of bacteria, so it is necessary to resolutely avoid hunting and eating marmots and various wild rats.
Domestic rats are susceptible to plague if they come into contact with wild rats, and parasitic fleas on house rats bite people to form human plague. Among them, yellow-breasted rats, brown rats and black rats are important sources of plague in humans.
"The plague is relatively well controlled in our country, especially in the plains and urban areas, because it is not the natural source of the plague, there is no need to 'talk about rat discoloration'." Chen Anguo said that although the plague is terrible, the emphasis is on prevention. The timely detection and isolation of the first patient is extremely important. People should avoid entering potential areas of plague when traveling and do not sit by wildlife caves.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Haihua Text Editor: Huang Haihua Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Infographic Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying