CHINESE CITY SEALED AFTER OUTBREAK OF THE BLACK DEATH.

English: This plague patient is displaying a swollen, ruptured inguinal lymph node, or buboe. After the incubation period of 2-6 days, symptoms of the plague appear including severe malaise, headache, shaking chills, fever, and pain and swelling, or adenopathy, in the affected regional lymph nodes, also known as buboes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 30,000 population of Yumen, North-western province of Gansu are not being allowed to leave the city following the death of a man from bubonic plague. Police have set up roadblocks on the perimeter of the city and are telling motorists to find alternative routes china central television (CCTV) said.   More than 150 residents have been quarantined following the death of the 38 year old man who is thought to have been in contact with a dead marmot, a species related to a squirrel.  The city has been sealed since last week with four quarantine sections set up.                                                                               " Yumen has enough rice, flour and oil to supply all its residents for up to one month," CCTV added. "Local residents and those in quarantine are all in stable condition."

Due to its bite-based form of infection, the bubonic plague is often the first step of a progressive series of illnesses. Bubonic plague symptoms appear suddenly, usually 2–5 days after exposure to the bacteria. Symptoms include:

• Gangrene of the extremities such as toes, fingers, lips and tip of the nose.

• Chills

• General ill feeling (malaise)

• High fever (39 °C; 102 °F)

• Muscle cramps

• Seizures

• Smooth, painful lymph gland swelling called a bubo, commonly found in the groin, but may occur in the armpits or neck, most often at the site of the initial infection (bite or scratch)

• Pain may occur in the area before the swelling appears

• Skin color changes to a pink hue in some very extreme cases

Other symptoms include heavy breathing, continuous vomiting of blood (hematemesis), aching limbs, coughing, and extreme pain. The pain is usually caused by the decay or decomposition of the skin while the person is still alive. (wikipedia)                                                                                                                                                                             The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) says modern antibiotics are effective in treating plague, but that without prompt treatment the disease can cause serious illness or death. Primarily an animal illness it is thankfully extremely rare in humans.                        

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