The plague outbreak in Madagascar is feared to be spreading out neighboring countries on the African mainland, prompting national health warnings in nine countries Wednesday.
Madagascar, which faces some of the most daunting sanitation concerns on the planet, is usually the source of most African outbreaks of “the black death” disease. In some years, it’s relatively easy to contain, but this year, health officials are concerned because it has developed into its “pneumonic” form.
The United Nations World Health Organization’s warning states:
The risk of regional spread is moderate due to the occurrence of frequent travel by air and sea to neighboring Indian Ocean islands and other southern and east African countries. Nine countries and overseas territories have been identified as priority countries in the African region for plague preparedness and readiness by virtue of having trade and travel links to Madagascar.
In the pneumonic form, it’s easily transmittable between humans, which is the cause for the warnings in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, and the French colony of La Reunion. All of those nations are connected to Madagascar either by passenger airline traffic, or through overseas trade.
More than 120 have died in Madagascar already from the current outbreak, which has yet to reach its peak. As many as 1,300 more remain infected with the disease, according to the WHO, and many more could be unknowingly infected.
Symptoms of pneumonic plague usually begin between three and seven days after exposure, and include:
fever,
headache,
shortness of breath,
chest pain, and
cough
Caught early, the plague is easily treatable with modern antibiotics. But in poorer countries with lack of hygiene and modern medical facilities, the disease is highly contagious and extremely deadly.
Credit to Trunews
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