After the G4 swine flu, China reports case of bubonic plague

Even as the world battles a deadly pandemic of COVID-19 that is said to have originated in the Wuhan city of China, there have also been cases of older viruses and bacteria resurfacing in the country.

After cases of the G4 swine flu were reported from China in late June 2020, a city in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China—Bayan Nur city—has now disclosed that it has two suspected cases of the bubonic plague.

Bubonic plague is caused by a bacterial infection. It caused the black death epidemic in Europe and Asia in the 1300s. Today, it is easily treatable with antibiotics, if detected on time.

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Bayan Nur issued a level 3 warning after a herder in the region was confirmed to be infected by the bubonic plague. The farmer is said to be in stable condition, but the city officials and epidemic control departments are taking no chances and have issued warnings against eating the meat of a marmot, a type of rodent commonly found in the mountains.

Of all deadly pandemics that have struck in different eras in recorded history, the bubonic plague has been one of the deadliest and notorious epidemics, having killed millions of people for centuries—it is only behind smallpox in terms of fatalities.

The bubonic plague was dubbed "Black Death" in the Middle Ages and is estimated to have wiped out nearly 30% to 60% of the entire population of Europe. Closer home in India, the 1896 outbreak of the bubonic plague killed thousands of people and forced several others to flee the cities to save themselves.

In fact, the practice of separating infected individuals from healthy ones living under the same roof—now well-known as quarantine—is said to have originated during the 14th-century outbreak of the bubonic plague.

Read more: Physical distancing

Plague continues to be reported from various parts of the world every now and then, but due to the presence of effective treatment strategies and antibiotics that are available to fight off the disease, the number of cases tends to remain in control.

What is bubonic plague?

What is bubonic plague?

The infectious disease known as the plague has a few types caused by different bacteria. The bubonic plague is one of the most notorious of the plagues, known to spread due to the infectious bacteria known as Yersinia pestis, named after Alexandre Yersin who discovered the pathogen causing the disease.

Various types of rodents and other mammals are known to be carriers of the Y pestis bacterium. These include rats, mice, rabbits and marmots, etc. The infection doesn't produce a fatal outbreak among the rodents, but when it is passed on to other species such as humans, there is a greater risk of an outbreak.

Rats and mice have long been known to be the primary vectors of the tube-shaped bacteria—these rodents are found commonly in urban dwellings in sewers and drains, and can easily transmit the bacteria to humans via a flea known as Xenopsylla cheopis (oriental flea). This flea is commonly found on the skin of rats and mice and can jump from their carriers to new hosts such as humans, and infect them.

Bubonic plague presents with symptoms such as fever, nausea, and swollen lymph nodes that can be excruciatingly painful and can be seen on the neck, armpits or in the groin region, with the surrounding skin turning black as a result, hence the name Black Death.

Bubonic plague is different from pneumonic plague, which presents with symptoms such as difficulty breathing, cough and chest pain, as well as acute pneumonia. A combination of both these plagues was responsible for the Indian plague outbreak in 1994.

Epidemiologists and disease experts say that bubonic plague is completely treatable now with the proper antibiotics. As such, there is no threat of another pandemic like COVID-19.