Here's a happy thought: Black Plague emerges in China

[TFOGGER]

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/11/15/779526827/china-reports-2-cases-of-the-most-dangerous-type-of-plague


Two patients have been diagnosed in Beijing with the most dangerous form of the plague ? the medieval disease also known as the Black Death.The announcement sent shock waves rippling through China's northeastern capital as authorities attempted to tamp down fears of an epidemic by censoring Chinese-language news of the hospitalization.
On Tuesday, Beijing authorities announced (https://www.sohu.com/a/353347285_114731) a municipal hospital had taken in a married couple from Inner Mongolia, a sparsely populated autonomous region in northwest China, seeking treatment for pneumonic plague. One patient is stable while the other is in critical condition but not deteriorating, according to Beijing's health commission. (http://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1650134659999624900&wfr=spider&for=pc)
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention assured the public on Weibo, a Chinese social media site that is the equivalent of Twitter, that chances of a plague outbreak are "extremely low." (https://weibo.com/7289344785/Ig1LB2mbD) The city's health commission has quarantined the infected patients, provided preventative care for those exposed to the couple and sterilized the relevant medical facilities, the center said.
Police are also guarding the quarantined (https://www.caixinglobal.com/2019-11-13/two-persons-diagnosed-with-pneumonic-plague-in-beijing-101482664.html) emergency room of Chaoyang hospital, where the infected patients were first received and diagnosed, according to Caixin, an independent Chinese news outlet.

[Gman]

Quashing news about it. Infected people quarantined. Problem solved.

[bellavite1]

There comes the the solution to all your environmental woes.

Save the planet: die.

[Irving]

I saw this head line and didn't understand why it was even news. Animals right here in Denver have the plague, and have for years. Didn't a few people die from the plague in the US and it was traced back to keeping prairie dogs as pets a few years ago?

[def90]

I saw this head line and didn't understand why it was even news. Animals right here in Denver have the plague, and have for years. Didn't a few people die from the plague in the US and it was traced back to keeping prairie dogs as pets a free years ago?

An average of 7 cases a year in the US..

https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html

[Irving]

Yeah, that's about what I thought.

[Gman]

Prairie dogs carry it and that's been the demise of the black-footed ferret.

https://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/05/endangered-black-footed-ferret-prairie-dog-deadly-plague-vaccine/

[FoxtArt]

Prime example of "fake news", I've been ignoring the headline for a few days. As others pointed out, several isolated U.S. infections every year. Also, quite treatable, not that infectious in our modern world, it's not Ebola.

[Irving]

I hear even the threat from Ebola was way overblown. I sure bought into it though.

[TFOGGER]

The difference with this strain is that it is the pneumonic variant, ie. transmissible through the air. The plague that we see here in the US is usually only transmissible via an insect vector, usually fleas. Pneumonic plague can also be introduced into the water supply with devastating effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague

[ChickNorris]

The difference with this strain is that it is the pneumonic variant, ie. transmissible through the air. The plague that we see here in the US is usually only transmissible via an insect vector, usually fleas. Pneumonic plague can also be introduced into the water supply with devastating effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague

This ^^^

[Gman]

Hey, throw in some bubonic plague for seasoning...

Hunter in China catches bubonic plague after eating a wild rabbit (https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/hunter-in-china-catches-bubonic-plague-after-eating-a-wild-rabbit/ar-BBWVowy)

...and a Colorado reference.

Twenty-eight people are in quarantine in China's northern Inner Mongolia province after a hunter was diagnosed with bubonic plague Saturday, the local health commission said.

According to state-run news agency Xinhua, the unidentified patient was believed to have become infected with the plague after catching and eating a wild rabbit in Inner Mongolia's Huade county.

Bubonic plague is the more common version of the disease and is rarely transmitted between humans.

The case comes after the Chinese government announced on November 12 that two people were being treated for the pneumonic plague in the capital of Beijing -- the same strand that caused the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.

Pneumonic plague is the most virulent and deadly strain of the disease. It originates in the lungs and any person who is infected can spread it to another person by sneezing or coughing near them. It can be cured with antibiotics, but is always fatal if left untreated, according to the WHO.

In comparison, bubonic plague can only be spread by infected fleas or by handling an infected animal's tissue.

State media Xinhua said Saturday that there had been no evidence of the plague spreading further in Beijing and there was no connection to the latest case. But it was the second time the disease had been detected in the region in the past year.

In May, a Mongolian couple died from bubonic plague after eating the raw kidney of a marmot, a local folk health remedy.

Although plague is inextricably linked to the Black Death pandemic of the 14th century that killed around 50 million people in Europe, it remains a relatively common disease.

At least 1,000 people a year catch the plague, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which they acknowledge is probably a modest estimate given the number of unreported cases.

The three most endemic countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Peru.

An average of seven Americans get the plague every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2015, two people in Colorado died from the plague, and the year before there were eight reported cases in the state.

[Delfuego]

There comes the the solution to all your environmental woes.

Save the planet: die.

Found the cure for overpopulation. I see parking spots starting to open up already :)

[UrbanWolf]

The difference with this strain is that it is the pneumonic variant, ie. transmissible through the air. The plague that we see here in the US is usually only transmissible via an insect vector, usually fleas. Pneumonic plague can also be introduced into the water supply with devastating effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonic_plague

Then it could spread to everywhere due to human transportation.

[Gman]

Yep. A plane flight with someone infected could spread it around the world.

[TFOGGER]

Then it could spread to everywhere due to human transportation.

Yeah. The Chinese clamped down on a quarantine pretty quick, and it was in an isolated area, so the spread was contained. Imagine if this had happened in Yemen or Somalia... While Y. Pestis is still vulnerable to a number of antibiotics, given their overuse and the increased appearance of antibiotic resistant strains of other bacteria, it's only a matter of time before the Black Death sweeps over the planet again.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/11/13/superbugs-sicken-millions-kill-cdc-report/4180317002/


Drug-resistant "superbugs" infect 2.8 million people and cause more than 35,000 deaths each year, underscoring the enormous public health threat of germs in what one official describes as a "post-antibiotic era," according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The report, which analyzes electronic health records and other data, shows an infection every 11 seconds and a death every 15 minutes on average from bugs that resist treatment from antibiotics. The CDC said there are nearly twice as many deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections compared to the agency's 2013 report, which likely underestimated the numbers.

In a letter accompanying the report, CDC Director Robert Redfield urged the public to "stop referring to a coming post-antibiotic era – it’s already here," with drug-resistant bugs in every U.S. state and around the globe.

"You and I are living in a time when some miracle drugs no longer perform miracles and families are being ripped apart by a microscopic enemy," Redfield wrote.

[DireWolf]

...While Y. Pestis is still vulnerable to a number of antibiotics, given their overuse and the increased appearance of antibiotic resistant strains of other bacteria, it's only a matter of time before the Black Death sweeps over the planet again.

Too bad there doesn't seem to be any real research papers available on actual efficacy of CS, which would seem to offer a possible solution, but who knows...