An interesting bit of news surfaced today that, while infectious disease oriented, it doesn’t have anything to do with PanFlu. My thanks to Dutchy @ Flutrackers.com. I ask that it be noted that pneumonic plague has not been definitively identified, the finding is said to be preliminary.
Zambia mystery disease could be pneumonic plague: official
8 hours ago
LUSAKA (AFP) — A mysterious disease which broke out in the south of Zambia, killing four people, is now suspected to be pneumonic plague, the health ministry said Friday.
Ministry of health spokesman Canicius Banda said preliminary findings indicate that the disease that has killed four people and affected over 60 patients could be pneumonic plague but the findings were not yet conclusive.
“Our preliminary findings point to pneumonia plague,” Banda said.
Four people died and 64 others were put under quarantine last week following the outbreak of the disease in Namwala, a small town in a southern province of Zambia.
Banda said the movement of people in the area had been banned with immediate effect in order to contain the disease, which had symptoms of vomiting and backache.
Medical experts had also begun spraying all the houses in the area to get rid of fleas and rodents suspected to be spreading the disease.
The government has also urged people in Namwala to be calm after word went round that the disease could be the deadly Ebola virus, prompting panic.
“We have carried out the tests and it is not Ebola. People should not panic, the situation is under control,” Health Minister Brian Chituwo said.
Pneumonic plague, which is fatal if left untreated, develops when plague bacteria infect the lungs, and can cause a public health emergency due to its high degree of contagion.
Yersinia pestis (plague) comes in three forms: Bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic; the most common being bubonic, and least lethal. Plague continues to occur in ~25 countries, even in our “modern” times.
The US will average a few cases a year in the Midwest. Eric York, an Arizona wildlife biologist died of a plague infection on the 9th of this month as reported in USAToday.
Had the possibility of the Zambian disease outbreak been listed as bubonic plague I would have only taken a passing interest. My general interest in plague dates back more than a decade when I became aware of the emergence of antibiotic resistant plague on the African continent.
From The Guardian:
Drug-resistant form of plague identified
· Strain can now resist eight major antibiotics
· Discovery raises fears of devastating pandemics
Ian Sample, science correspondent
March 21 2007
[snip]
A multiple drug-resistant form of the plague, one of the oldest and most lethal diseases in human history, has been identified by scientists, prompting fears of devastating future outbreaks that cannot be contained by antibiotics.
Tests on a strain of the disease-causing bacterium, Yersinia pestis, taken from a 16-year-old boy in Madagascar revealed the organism has developed resistance to eight antibiotics used to treat the infection, including streptomycin and tetracyclin.
The bacterium is believed to have become resistant to drugs after swapping genes with common food bacteria such as salmonella, E coli and klebsiella, probably while being carried in the guts of fleas, which spread the disease by biting infected rodents.
The discovery has alarmed scientists who fear multiple drug-resistant strains of the plague may emerge in other countries, leading to highly dangerous pandemics which spread rapidly. Another serious concern is that drug-resistant strains of the organism may be collected by terrorist organisations and released into the air, causing widespread infection [all emphasis added]
The PLosONE paper referred to can be found here.
This map shows the geographic orientation of Madagascar and Zambia:
Just one more disease on the threat horizon…
SZ
