PLAGUE, PNEUMONIC - CHINA: (QINGHAI), REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Date: Sat 1 Aug 2009
Source: XinHuaNet [edited]
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/02/content_11811126.htm>
One dies of pneumonic plague in NW China
-----------------------------------------One person has died of pneumonic plague which infected 11 others in
the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai
Province, said the province's health bureau. The 11 infected
patients, hospitalized in quarantined wards, are in stable
conditions. Most of them are relatives of the dead person, a
32-year-old herdsman, said a press release from Health Bureau of
Qinghai Province.
The province sent a team of experts to the area and had the plague
under control, said the release. The local government quarantined the
source of the plague, Ziketan town, and its vicinity. The area has
sufficient supplies and the quarantine has not disrupted the basic
needs of the locals, according to the release.
The health bureau demanded those who have fever and cough and have
been to Ziketan town and its vicinity after 16 Jul 2009 to go to
hospital. Ziketan town, in Xinghai county of Hainan Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture, covers 3000 square kilometers and has a
population of 10 000.
--
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Primary pneumonic plague (one percent of natural plague
presentations) arises as a result of inhalation of plague bacilli in
infectious aerosols, such as would be produced when there are
secondary pneumonic complications in bubonic/septicemic plague.
Primary plague pneumonia has a short incubation period of 1-3 days,
after which there is sudden onset of flu-like symptoms including
fever, chills, headache, generalized body pains, weakness, and chest
discomfort. A cough develops with sputum production, which may be
bloody, and increasing chest pain and difficulty in breathing. As the
disease progresses, hypoxia (low oxygen concentration in the blood)
and hemoptysis (coughing up blood) are prominent. The disease is
invariably fatal unless antimicrobial therapy commences within 24
hours of exposure.Patients with primary pneumonic plague generate large quantities of
infectious aerosols that pose a significant risk to close contacts.
CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines
identify contacts within 2 meters (6.5 ft) as being at greatest risk
and do not consider the organism likely to be carried through air
ducts or vents. Persons who have been in contact with pneumonic
plague patients or handling potentially infectious body fluids or
tissues without appropriate protection should receive preventive
antimicrobial therapy. The preferred antimicrobial agents for
prophylaxis are tetracyclines, quinolones, or chloramphenicol.
The area involved is an autonomous prefecture of Qinghai province in
China. The prefecture's capital is Gonghe county. The placename
literally means "south of the Qinghai Lake." It can be found on a map
at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Tibetan_Autonomous_Prefecture>.
- Mod.LL]
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