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Dead dog suspected to be Patient Zero in pneumonic plague

tireddog.jpg Is this why the Shanghai government is freaking out with its new dog regulations? Its now suspected that a canine companion was the origin of the outbreak of pneumonic plague in Qinghai province. The dead dog most likely ate a plague-infected marmot. His owner then became infected while burying his dog and his relatives and neighbors became infected by coming near him without taking protective measures. So far three people in Ziketan have died, one patient is in critical condition, seven others have been confirmed infected and over 100,000 have been quarantined. Source: SCMP (paywalled)

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  • Great. Let the dog cullings begin again. :(

  • taihanasie

    Oakwoods is spouting nonsense again. The dog bit a wild animal that was carrying the plague. The plague can be carried by many kinds of animals, not just humans and rats. The man got the plague while he was burying the dog. Perhaps he rubbed his mouth by accident. Unlike other forms of the plague, pneumonic plague is airborne. So he could have caught it directly from the dog. This is also how his relatives became infected. They were around him. Pneumonic plague makes you cough terribly. And when you cough, you infect others. Quite simple really.

  • ohWeoh

    I don't know anything about skinning of dogs (oakwoods, do you have source on that?)



    I have read that rats all over the world still have the plague, but I thought it was mostly transferred and carried by fleas.



    Thanks for the story, can you keep following up? 100,000 in quarantine must be intense, I feel for those people. Hopefully this will pass soon.

  • oakwoods

    The truth is the Tibeten became infected by skinning his dead dog. Plague outbroke several times in history in Qinghai owing to Tibetens skinning of contaminatd wild animals. Seems the herdmen around Ziketan failed to follow the teaching of Dalai Lama.

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