黑死病来了?中国甘肃鼠疫引世界关注!

2014年7月24日讯 /--近日，中国甘肃地区爆发鼠疫，引起国内外媒体的广泛关注。目前甘肃玉门已经有151人被隔离观察。本月16日，甘肃玉门市一名患者死亡。据了解这些患者可能是由于接触当地的土拨鼠而感染鼠疫的。目前有关政府已经在玉门市等地划分了四个隔离区。

鼠疫又称黑死病，曾经在中世纪的欧洲肆虐，导致了至少2500万人丧生。这种疾病在早期主要是由于接触啮齿类动物而传染到人的，此后鼠疫可以通过人群交叉传染。近年来，随着医疗水平的提高，国内外鼠疫疫情罕有发生。玉门市上一次纪录的鼠疫报告还要追溯到1977年。最近十年中，根据健康组织的统计，甘肃至少有5起鼠疫死亡病例。不过随着医疗技术的不断进步，鼠疫已经不像中世纪那样令人谈虎色变，在症状出现初期通过使用合适的抗生素治疗，基本都可以完全治愈。

24日，甘肃省卫计委发布消息称，根据《中华人民共和国传染病防治法》和《人间鼠疫疫区处理标准及原则》，酒泉玉门市人间鼠疫疫情隔离区处理已按标准全部完成。　　目前，玉门市老市区、赤金镇、赤金镇西湖村、疫点牧场4个隔离区全部达到解除隔离条件，经甘肃省政府批准，玉门市政府决定于7月24日零时依法解除玉门市鼠疫疫区隔离封锁。　　据悉，经验收，疫区污染物和污染环境完成终末消毒，疫源地内开展灭鼠、灭蚤，151名密切接触者隔离留验9天后，经临床检诊无相关症状，未发生新增确诊和疑似鼠疫病例，疫区达到解除隔离条件。　　甘肃省卫生计生委强调，将认真评估当前全省鼠疫防控形势，加大对鼠疫防控工作投入，加强鼠疫防治人员培训，深入开展爱国卫生运动和全民健康教育，进一步做好鼠疫监测和整体防控工作。

详细英文报道：

Part of a city in north-west China has been sealed off and dozens of people placed in quarantine after a man died of bubonic plague, state media say.

The man died in Yumen city, Gansu province, on 16 July.

A total of 151 people have been placed under observation, Xinhua news agency says. Authorities have isolated a part of the city centre and three sections of Chijin town which is an hour away.

The man was believed to have caught the infection after contact with a marmot.

Marmots are large, squirrel-type rodents that live in mountainous areas.

The victim is reported to be a 38-year-old man who had fed a dead marmot to his dog.

The deputy head of the hospital where the man died told reporters that the victim had arrived with an increased heart-rate and seemed to be slipping into shock. The hospital has since been quarantined.

The plague

oThe plague is one of the oldest identifiable diseases known to man

oPlague is spread from one rodent to another by fleas, and to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or when handling infected hosts

oRecent outbreaks have shown that plague may reappear in areas that have long been free of the disease

oPlague can be treated with antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline

oMadagascar recently recorded 60 deaths from plague

Source: World Health Organization

It is not clear from reports how big the four quarantine zones are. Ten checkpoints have been set up around Yumen and Chijin.

Those in quarantine all had contact with the man, Xinhua said. None was showing signs of infection, it said.

Officials have told reporters that the group could be released after nine days of quarantine if no further cases of plague appeared among them.

Yumen is a small city in western Gansu province, which borders Xinjiang. The last reported case of bubonic plague in the city was in 1977, Xinhua said.

Gansu has seen at least five cases of the plague in the last 10 years, according to the agency.

Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.

It is a bacterial disease mainly affecting wild rodents that is spread by fleas. Humans bitten by infected fleas can then develop bubonic plague.

Once bacteria infects the lungs, human-to-human transmission of pneumonic plague can occur through coughing.

If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, while pneumonic plague has a high mortality rate, the World Health Organization says.