Didn't I Hear This Story Before!

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If you think that COVID-19 virus is dangerous, it is just a mild bump in the road in comparison with the Bubonic Plague, especially the pneumonic variant. This plague is lethal. The bubonic plague can be fatal in up to 90 percent of people infected if not treated.

I have had many immunization shots in my life, but the bubonic plague shot produced instantaneous strong reaction that almost knocked me on my butt.

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The WHO repeatedly thanked the Chinese government during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and heaped praise on President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party for its transparency. In March, the WHO finally declared a coronavirus pandemic after the virus spread to other countries.

The WHO has been under international scrutiny for its seemingly blind adoration of China and its handling of COVID-19, which has infected more than 11.6 million people worldwide and killed more than half a million.

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The World Health Organization praised Beijing on Tuesday for its handling of a cluster of cases of bubonic plague, one of the deadliest diseases in human history. The apparent outbreak of the disease is being "well managed" by China and is not considered high risk, a WHO official said.

Local authorities in Bayan Nur, located in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, sent out a warning about the plague on Sunday, a day after a hospital reported a case of the plague known grimly as the "Black Death" during the Middle Ages.

Four other cases were reported in November, including two of pneumonic plague, a deadlier variant.

"We are monitoring the outbreaks in China, we are watching that closely and in partnership with the Chinese authorities and Mongolian authorities," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said during a United Nations press briefing in Geneva.

The bubonic plague can be fatal in up to 90 percent of people infected if not treated, primarily with several types of antibiotics.

Source: WHO praises China for handling of bubonic plague, says it's 'carefully monitoring' situation

Here is the rub. The bubonic plague can be very lethal. Instead of hundreds of thousands of casualties (COVID), think a billion casualties or more. Think 1/3 of the world's population dying a very horrible death. We have been lulled into complacency because the bubonic plague can be treated by several types of antibiotics. But the world has not been developing new antibiotics for the past few decades and many types of bacterial infections have become antibiotic resistant. So if an antibiotic resistant form of the pneumonic variant of the bubonic plague appears - GAME OVER.

I read about that to,it appears only one case in the rural inner Mongolia,should be easy to contain and prevent spread to the more urban ares of China.I don't see another pandemic,we get cases in the US from time to time,I recall a couple cases in Colorado about ten years ago.Antibiotics take care of it pretty good.

The bacterium Yersinia pestis produces three types of plagues. The three types of plague are the result of the route of infection: bubonic plague, septicemic plague, and pneumonic plague. Bubonic plague is mainly spread by infected fleas from small animals. It may also result from exposure to the body fluids from a dead plague-infected animal. The Septicemic plague is a life-threatening infection of the blood. It is the rarest of the three plague varieties and the most lethal. The pneumonic form may occur following an initial bubonic or septicemic plague infection. It may also result from breathing in airborne droplets from another person or cat infected with pneumonic plague. The difference between the forms of plague is the location of infection; in pneumonic plague the infection is in the lungs, in bubonic plague the lymph nodes, and in septicemic plague within the blood.

Some hypothesize that the pneumonic version of the plague was mainly responsible for the Black Death that resulted in approximately 50 million deaths in the 1300s.

The pneumonic version of the plague has been fairly rare.

On November 12, 2019, It was announced that two people, from the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, were diagnosed with pneumonic plague. They received treatment in Beijing's Chaoyang District, and authorities have implemented preventative control measures. Later in November a third case of plague was confirmed. A 55-year-old man was diagnosed with bubonic plague after eating wild rabbit in Inner Mongolia. The region's health commission says it has no evidence to suggest that this case is linked to the previous two. By the end of November a fourth case was confirmed. Chinese health authorities reported a fresh case of bubonic plague in the country's northern Inner Mongolia region, bringing the total number of reported plague cases, originating from Inner Mongolia to four.

Yes, you probably have heard the story before. There are hundreds of cases of plague every year. There was an outbreak in the same region of China in November. There are a few cases in the New Mexico area every year.

There is a vaccine for the plague, but it is not widely administered because the chance of exposure are incredibly low (estimates range from 600 to 2,500 cases a year with a global population of 7,800,000,000).

There is relatively little chance of Y. pestis developing total antibiotic resistance in the immediate future. Some antibiotic resistance was reported in Madagascar in 1995. In hospital environments, bacteria can pass antibacterial resistance genes between each other, so Y. pestis could gain antibacterial resistance from e.g. S. aureus. However, we have a lot of antibiotics (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_antibiotics). Antibiotic resistance also has evolutionary disadvantages to the bacteria through the increased metabolic cost, which causes strains with resistance to die out when antibiotics are not present.

A strain of Y. pestis that is sufficiently infectious to cause a fourth global pandemic? Possible, though unlikely in any given year. There have been three pandemics in 1500 years, which gives a rough estimate of a 0.2% chance of one breaking out in any given year. (This is bad statistics but is a good starting point)

A sufficiently infectious strain of Y. pestis that also has full-spectrum antibiotic resistance, and is not covered by the existing vaccine? Well down the list of threats, below asteroids and Yellowstone.

And even then, in that nightmare scenario - good news, we have just run a giant practice for such a scenario. We successfully reduced transmission of a far more infectious, far less deadly agent. We can implement similar measures against Y. pestis.

Pandemics are a threat that will not go away, but "somebody sneezed in China" is not news. Zoonotic diseases are constantly jumping to humans, only a tiny fraction become pandemics.

As Walrus and Vermont states, there are cases of the Plague every year in the Desert Southwest. There is antibiotic treatment for it, unlike COVID.

Although the bubonic variant is a little common, the pneumonic variant is much rarer. Of the three variant, this is a human-to-human transmission variant. Two individuals came down with this variant in Mongolia.

According to Wikipedia:

Pneumonic plague is a very aggressive infection requiring early treatment. Antibiotics must be given within 24 hours of first symptoms to reduce the risk of death. Streptomycin, gentamicin, tetracyclines and chloramphenicol are all able to kill the causative bacterium. Antibiotic treatment for seven days will protect people who have had direct, close contact with infected patients. Wearing a close-fitting surgical mask also protects against infection. The mortality rate from untreated pneumonic plague approaches 100%.

Since 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported seven plague outbreaks, though some may go unreported because they often happen in remote areas. Between 1998 and 2009, nearly 24,000 cases have been reported, including about 2,000 deaths, in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Eastern Europe. Ninety-eight percent of the world's cases occur in Africa.

In the United States:

In the fall of 1924, an outbreak occurred in Los Angeles that killed 30 people.

On November 2, 2007, wildlife biologist Eric York died of pneumonic plague in Grand Canyon National Park. York was exposed to the bacteria while conducting a necropsy on a mountain lion carcass. [Animal to human transmission.]

In 2014, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed that a Colorado man had been diagnosed with pneumonic plague, the first confirmed human case in Colorado in more than ten years, and one of only 60 cases since 1957. The man was found to have the disease after the family dog died unexpectedly and a necropsy revealed that the disease was the cause. Three additional pneumonic plague cases were confirmed in Colorado before the outbreak ended. The outbreak was caused by a pit bull. [Animal to human transmission]

Source: Pneumonic plague

Has any politician. Brought up the idea of herd immunity again .? It’s hard to believe these diseases haven’t gone the way of smallpox . Please pardon if my reference was incorrect? Epidemic. / pandemics. Cause me to have concerns .

The reference to politicians was meant to be sarcastic .

I woke up this morning and decided to do a search on Google. I choose the following keywords "Mysterious", "Deaths" "Mongolia". This pulled up an article in the New York Times of 13 November 2019. Pneumonic Plague Is Diagnosed in China It is astonishing the similarities between how the Chinese handled COVID-19 and how they handled this pneumonic plague outbreak. It is like they used the same playbook.

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Two people in China were diagnosed with plague, setting off a panic on Tuesday about the potential spread of the highly infectious and fatal disease and prompting China’s government to warn citizens to take precautions to protect themselves.

Beijing officials said the two infected people came from Inner Mongolia, a sparsely populated region of northern China. They sought treatment on Tuesday in a hospital in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, where they were diagnosed with pneumonic plague, according to the government office of the district.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Weibo, the microblogging site, that there was no need for Beijing residents to panic and that the risks of further transmission are “extremely low.” The authorities quickly isolated the patients, conducted epidemiological investigations on the people who could have been exposed and disinfected all the relevant sites, the CDC said. They have also strengthened monitoring of patients with fever, it added.

Pneumonic plague is one of three types of infectious disease known as plague caused by the same bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Patients diagnosed with pneumonic plague, which causes high fevers and shortness of breath, sometimes first contract the closely related and more well-known disease, bubonic plague.

Fears are mounting in China over a possible outbreak of the disease, once known as the Black Death, which killed tens of millions of people in medieval Europe, and spread through Asia and Africa.

Last month, the authorities in China said they would strengthen quarantine measures to prevent plague from entering the country after Madagascar was struck by a fast-spreading outbreak of the disease. It is unclear when the cases were first detected in China but residents are asking why the authorities took so long to diagnose and disclose the problem.

Li Jifeng, a doctor at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital where the two people sought treatment, wrote on WeChat, a social media platform, that the patients sought treatment on Nov. 3. That post, which has since been deleted, was published by CN-Healthcare, a website that covers health care news in China. Dr. Li could not be reached for comment and Beijing Chaoyang Hospital declined to comment.

Dr. Li wrote that the patient she saw was a middle-aged man, who had a fever and complained of breathing difficulties for 10 days. He sought treatment at a hospital in Inner Mongolia but his condition did not improve. His wife also developed a fever and respiratory problems. [Signs of Human to Human transmission.]

“After so many years of specialist training, I’m familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of most respiratory diseases,” wrote Dr. Li. “But this time, I looked and looked at it. I couldn’t guess what pathogen caused this pneumonia. I only knew it was rare.”

On why the authorities took so long to make the announcement, Dr. Li wrote that signs of any infectious disease need to be repeatedly verified and investigated, and such announcements cannot be “transmitted casually.”

The police quarantined the emergency room in the Chaoyang Hospital on Monday night, the news outlet Caixin reported, citing residents.

On Tuesday, Chinese censors instructed online news aggregators in China to “block and control” online discussion related to news about the plague, according to a directive seen by The New York Times.

Skeptical Chinese internet users have charged the government with being slow to disclose news about the disease, which is transmitted between humans and kills even faster than the more-common bubonic form. China has a history of covering up and being slow to announce infectious outbreaks, prompting many people to call for transparency this time.

“The plague is not the most terrifying part,” one user wrote on Weibo. “What’s even scarier is the information not being made public.”

If left untreated, pneumonic plague is always fatal, according to the World Health Organization. But recovery rates are high if detected and treated with antibiotics, within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms, the agency said.

Another user on Weibo called on the government to disclose how the patients arrived in Beijing from Inner Mongolia. If the patients traveled on their own using public transportation they could have spread the disease to many people.
“How many people have they encountered potentially?” the user wrote. “Only 2 kilometers away from Chaoyang Hospital. I’m shaking and trembling.”

According to China’s health commission, six people have died in the country from the plague since 2014. The most recent case was recorded earlier this year.

Officials have warned people to avoid traveling to infected areas and contact with rodents.

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So then why did the Chinese strengthen quarantine with Madagascar? Did the Chinese see a connection between the pneumonic plague outbreak in Madagascar and inner Mongolia? An Internet search indicated:

Madagascar accounts for 75% of global plague cases reported to WHO, with an annual incidence of 200–700 suspected cases (mainly bubonic plague). In 2017, a pneumonic plague epidemic of unusual size occurred.

Source: Epidemiological characteristics of an urban plague epidemic in Madagascar, August–November, 2017: an outbreak report

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In 1996, two drug-resistant strains of plague were isolated from Madagascar. One of these, was completely resistant to all the drugs that are used to control outbreaks.

The Secret of Drug-Resistant Bubonic Plague

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One has to ask if the Chinese were researching this antibiotic resistant form of the bubonic plague? If they had boots on the ground in Madagascar?

^^^
They might