Bubonic Plague outbreak in Libya
The World Health Organization (WHO) is investigating a reported bubonic plague outbreak in the Libyan coastal town of Tubruq, which sits on the Mediterranean.
According to reports attributed to John Jabhour, a WHO emerging diseases expert based in Cairo, about 16 to 18 people have been affected so far, with one dead. A WHO team was on its way to investigate the outbreak and confirm whether it was indeed bubonic plague.
In fact, bubonic plague outbreaks are not all that uncommon, and 10 or 20 cases are reported within the United States annually. The disease—which mainly infects rodents and is spread by insect bites, especially fleas—afflicts 1,000 to 2,000 people each year. If confirmed, these will be the first cases of bubonic plague in Libya for twenty years, but outbreaks have been occurring in the Congo, Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar with relative frequency since at least 2002. Algeria had its first outbreak in 50 years in 2003.
Fortunately, the bacterial infection is treatable with antibiotics (streptomycin is the drug of choice, according to WHO) if detected early.
While the bubonic form of the plague is generally treatable—this is the form referred to as the Black Death during the Middle Ages—a newer form called pneumonic plague (which, just as it sounds, affects the lungs) is highly contagious via airborne particles. There is also a septicemic form of the disease, which infects the blood.
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