The announcement by the Chinese authorities on Wednesday that a case of bubonic plague was registered was accompanied by concerns about the widespread spread of this disease.
Plague is a contagious and fatal disease if not treated, and the cause is a bacterium called Yersinia that lives in some animals, especially rodents and fleas.
And “bubonic plague” is the most common type of this disease, which is associated with symptoms such as swelling of the lymph nodes in the thighs, armpits and neck, which is painful and develops quickly in the first week after infection.
The World Health Organization stated on its official website that the symptoms of infected people are usually similar to those of the “flu” after an incubation period of 3 to 7 days.
Patients usually suffer from sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, body aches, weakness, vomiting and nausea.
This type of plague was famous in the Middle Ages and was known as the Black Death because of the black color of gangrene that may accompany the disease and cause the death of parts of the body such as fingers and toes. .
When the “Black Death” swept through the Middle East and Europe between 1346 and 1353, about 200 million people were killed, and half of the population of London and 60 percent of Europeans perished.
Experts say the disease is caused by bacteria and is therefore “easily treatable with antibiotics.”
The organization has stated more than once that it does not consider the outbreak of the plague in China to be “a very dangerous issue” and has emphasized that it is following it and monitoring it very closely.
Source: Lebanon Debate
