Via the South China Morning Post: Two pneumonic plague cases confirmed in Chinese villagers. Excerpt:
The Chinese health authorities have confirmed two cases of pneumonic plague among Inner Mongolian villagers. The patients from the remote area of Sunite Left Banner, close to the Mongolian border, were diagnosed in Beijing.
They were being treated at unnamed hospitals in the capital’s Chaoyang district and disease control measures had been taken, according to a notice published on the Chaoyang health commission’s website on Tuesday.
Doctors at Chaoyang Hospital confirmed that the patients had been treated there but had since been transferred elsewhere, local media reported.
On Wednesday, China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the risk of the disease spreading was “extremely low” and that “citizens can carry on with their daily lives and visit medical institutions without worrying about the risk of infection”.
It added that Beijing residents need not worry about catching the disease through coming into contact with rats, since the outbreak had originated outside the capital.
