WHO: Pneumonic plague is not fatal

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), pneumonic plague is raging in Ziketan city, Qinghai province (China), which is not fatal, although there have been 3 deaths so far.

On its website, WHO said that although the disease can kill 60% of victims if they are not detected in time, early diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline will help reduce mortality rate below 15%.

' This disease sometimes occurs in countries. We should not be too concerned about it, but we should closely monitor the situation, 'said Vivian Tan, a spokesman for WHO in China.

According to WHO, pneumonic plague can be spread from person to person through fluid of infected people when they cough (Photo: AP)

Also according to information from WHO, in 2003, pneumonic plague made 2,118 people infected in 9 countries, killing 182 of these people. Nearly 99% of cases and deaths occur in Africa.

In the latest development involving pneumonic plague, Xinhua News on August 8 reported that dogs may be a source of this disease.

Leading professor Wang Hu, director of the Disease Control Authority in Qinghai Province, the news agency said the initial tests showed that the dog of the first patient died - a 32-year-old herder - apparently as if dead after eating a marmot (a species of squirrel with a squirrel but living in an underground cave) infected with pneumonic plague

The shepherd was later infected by burying his dog and died three days later. " After he became infected, family members and neighbors contacted him without any protection, resulting in them being infected ," said Professor Wang.