Mongolia Quarantines Russian Border Region Over Bubonic Plague Suspicion

[soothsayer]

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/02/mongolia-quarantines-russian-border-region-over-bubonic-plague-suspicion-a70756

Snip

Mongolia has quarantined its western region near the border with Russia after identifying two suspected cases of the black plague linked to the consumption of marmot meat, health officials said Wednesday....

The NCZD said it has analyzed samples taken from 146 people who it said had contacts with the two infected persons and identified 504 second-contact individuals. Media reports suggested that the victims were a 27-year-old male and a young woman of an unknown age.

Mongolia closed a key border crossing with Russia in May 2019 on suspicion that it may have played a role in an outbreak of the plague, stranding several Russian tourists. A husband and wife had died after eating marmot meat in that incident.

Experts say the direct descendants of the same bubonic plague that killed 50 million people in the 14th century still exist today, killing around 2,000 people a year.

[ck4829]

1. It's not easy being sane when you're literally surrounded by insanity and despotism

[Hekate]

2. Bubonic plague is endemic in the wild rodents of America's Southwest. Squirrels, basically...

I don't remember the range, but we are talking dry deserty areas iirc. So a few cases turn up every year or so, and with luck can be treated in a hospital.

So: modern sanitation, modern medicine, modern pest control, and above all lack of crowding (please gods, not in a rat-filled city). It’s still the Black Death.

Maybe COVID is a test to see if we’ve retained any of what our ancestors learned.