Bubonic plagueis a bacterial disease that is primarily propagate in humans by bite from septic flea traveling on gnawer . Though the pest might be most well known for kill 25 million Europeans during the Middle Ages , the disease still live today . Most of late , an outbreak of the plague started in Madagascar at the end of August , and has taint 138 people , kill 47 . The body counting is feared to grow as the disease has now turn over Antananarivo , Madagascar ’s uppercase metropolis .
The bacterium Yersinia pestis is responsible for the do the pest . Though early interference with antibiotic drug can successfully and easily treat the disease , give up treatment can rapidly run to some serious symptoms . Symptoms of the plague include muscularity cramps , gamey febrility , seizure , and sorely swollen lymph glands .
The plague also come in two other forms : septicemic and pneumonic . Septicemic pestilence results in gangrene in the extremities , and can grow if bubonic plague is left untreated . Pneumonic plague is transferred person - to - person through the air and can head to respiratory failure within 24 hours . This form can be transmitted forthwith or develop from bubonic plague if the lungs become infected with the bacteria . Only2 % of reported casesin this irruption have been pulmonic . The mortality pace of the plague is hard to determine , as it is instantly connected to when antibiotics are administered .
The World Health Organization ( WHO)reportsthat patient zero of this outbreak was a male person living in the Soamahatamana village in the Tsiroanomandidy dominion . His condition was identified on August 31 , and he unfortunately succumbed to the disease on September 3 . Two cases of plague have been reported in the outskirts of the Washington city of Antananarivo , with one human death .
It is feared that thedisease will flourishhere , as there is a perfect storm of high universe tightness , deficient lodging infest with rodents , and an insufficient healthcare industriousness in the commonwealth . To make matters worse , the flea channelise the disease are now for the most part resistant to the insecticide that has been used to curb flea populations in the yesteryear . This will make it very hard to tighten the number of infected flea in an exploit to cut back the spread of the plague .
WHO is managing the outbreak in conjunction with the Red Cross , the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar , and the “ Commune urbaine d’Antananarivo . ” $ 200,000 USD has already been committed to moderate the eruption through the purchase of antibiotics , insecticides , and personal protective equipment for the healthcare prole . These materials have already been made usable to the stirred areas to try out to manipulate the ranch of the disease .
As of right now , the WHOdoes not recommendbarring trade to and from the part . However , they inspire government activity officials to be vigilant in monitoring disease and treating infected individuals .
[ Header image : Tim Evanson via Flickr , CC BY SA 2.0 ]
