According to a World Health Organization doctor, a global pandemic is imminent, and no one will be prepared for it when it hits. Dr. Tedros Adhanom, director-general for WHO, has said that the next outbreak that will hit us will be a “terrible” one, causing a large death all over the world.
“Humanity is more vulnerable in the face of epidemics because we are much more connected and we travel around much more quickly than before,” said WHO specialist in infectious diseases Dr. Sylvie Brand. “We know that it is coming, but we have no way of stopping it,” said Brand. According to Dr. Tedros, the flu is extremely dangerous to everyone living on the planet. This fear was also promoted by experts at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month.
“This is not some future nightmare scenario. A devastating epidemic could start in any country at any time and kill millions of people because we are still not prepared. The world remains vulnerable. We do not know where and when the next global pandemic will occur, but we know it will take a terrible toll both on human life and on the economy,” said Dr. Tedros.
“Hidden underneath this fear-mongering message of a global pandemic is a far more sinister W.H.O. agenda,” warns Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, publisher of Medicine.news. “The real agenda is a global push for blind, fear-based acceptance of unsafe, unproven vaccines that will be rolled out alongside the next global pandemic,” Adams warns. “Fear circumvents rational thinking, which is why the vaccine-pharma cartels routinely turn to irrational fear propaganda to demand absolute and unquestioning acceptance of risky medical interventions that should always be scrutinized for safety and efficacy.” –Natural News
Face masks are placed on children in Antananarivo, Madagascar (AP Photo/Alexander JOE)
An expert is warning the plague that has sickened over 2000 people in Madagascar since August is impossible to eradicate. Even though the number of those infected has dropped in recent weeks, the plague will never truly be gone.
Since the airborne version of the plague can kill a person in just three hours, experts warn that its too soon to think that since there hasn’t been a person infected in recent days, that it won’t pop up again. That’s because the bacteria that causes plague is now so widespread in wildlife, that humans can’t do anything to get rid of it, said Dr. Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at Monash University in Melbourne.
“It’s not possible to eradicate plague, as it is widespread in wildlife rodents outside the sphere of human influence,” Cheng wrote onThe Conversation. “Outbreaks, generally, are managed reactively by ‘firefighting teams’, deployed to clear houses of fleas, identify and treat cases and give pre-emptive treatment to contacts at risk. A more preventative approach, such as the identification of areas at risk using climate models and animal surveys to focus flea and rat control efforts, would be better,” he said. “But, this requires a better understanding of transmission pathways in each region where disease persists.”
It’s been reported that plague has been transmitted to humans by camels, goats, prairie dogs, rock squirrels and guinea pigs since the 1960’s. There are only a few remaining hotspots for plague in the world – Madagascar being one of them. This outbreak was also highly “unusual”, in that several different parts of the island were affected, including areas with lots of people.
WHO has reported 2119 cases of the plague as of November 10. 171 have died of the disease so far.
Patients in Madagascar who are currently suffering from the plague have “escaped” multiple hospitals in the area over fears of needles and hospital treatment as a whole, according to a shocking report in The Sun newspaper.
Security guards with at least one hospital have been tasked with forcefully keeping black death patients in the hospital as well as following the strict safety procedures set up in an attempt to quell the outbreak.
Officials at the hospital say the main reason why patients run away is that they are scared of needles and don’t have much experience of hospitals.
Jean Benoit Manhes, the deputy representative of Unicef, told the Irish Times: “Some escaped because they’re afraid of needles. People here are not used to the hospital.
“The problem of plague is not just a medical response. You can have hospitals but if people don’t come it isn’t enough.”
It means ‘turning the bones’ and sees families cleaning the remains, rewrapping them and reburying them while other family members perform a special dance.
The African island’s government has told citizens to pause the tradition for fear the plague bacteria is still active in the corpses and can be spread to the living.
News of infected patients running away from hospitals comes on the heels of reports that it is only a matter of time before the plague becomes resistant to the antibiotics that are currently being used to treat the outbreak.
The newest warning about the outbreak of the airborne pneumonic plague, or black death, in Madagascar has been released. Officials warn that it’s inevitable that this bacterial infection that’s infected over 2000 people will become resistant to antibiotics.
The only way to treat a person who has contracted the plague is with antibiotics. But experts now warn that because they are being used so much to treat the infection, antibiotics resistance is inevitable and making this disease much more terrifying.
Once the bacteria is resistant, the Madagascar healthcare system will be overwhelmed, and the disease will have control of the nation.
As Slavo noted, should the disease spread to the African mainland, one can assume that it will be all but impossible to control, thus increasing the likelihood of global pandemic.
As the Black Death Plague Strikes Madagascar, Might We Soon Witness Bio-Component ‘K For Kill Everyone’?
According to this brand new story from The Express sent over to ANP by Steve Quayle, a NEW ‘Black Death’ has been discovered in Uganda, a virus WORSE than plague with NO cure according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Just the latest plague ‘outbreak’ this year, ANP will be taking a look over the next several days at the unusual surge of black death plague and the next story in this series will feature an in depth interview with Steve Quayle.
In the map we see above taken directly from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) showing cases of the human plague across the United States between 1970 and 2012, one particular case should immediately stand out.
For those who aren’t yet caught up to date, Lathem, one of the world’s most reknown ‘black death’ researchers, was recently arrested and incarcerated for a sexual fetish murder and as Susan Duclos reported on ANP back on October 26th, we have absolute proof that Lathem had visited Madagascar soon before the outbreak of the current deadly plague. Lathem himself admits that in the first video below, a video perhaps appropriately titled “From Mild to Murderous: How Yersinia pestis Evolved to Cause Pneumonic Plague”. If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s well worth the watch as it gives us a look inside the mind of a madman, who friends and colleagues had no idea was capable of murder, who had access to material that could wipe out a huge part of the human race.
In a story about the murder that the NY Times called ‘dark and disturbing’, we learn Lathem admitted that he had sent a video tape to close friends and family in which, according to prosecutors, he admitted to the killing and told his loved ones “that he is not the person people thought he was.” What people who knew Lathem ‘thought he was’ was a brilliant man, one of the foremost minds in the field of deadly disease research, yet as we learned in the NY Times story, he had another side, a part of him with a profound desire to kill people. A brief excerpt from the NY Times story on the dark and twisted murder:
On Sunday, as the two university workers stood before an Illinois judge for the first time, prosecutors laid out a plot still darker and more gruesome. Before the killing, the two men — Wyndham Lathem, who had been a professor at Northwestern University, and Andrew Warren, an administrator at the University of Oxford in England — had talked for months in an internet chat room about their “sexual fantasies of killing others and then themselves,” prosecutors said.
According to the Daily Northwestern, over the past 14 years, Lathem established himself as one of the nation’s preeminent Yersinia researchers. He contributed to 28 different published research findings that have been cited more than 1,700 times, according to his database on ResearchGate.
And remember this next excerpt from their story: Shortly before leaving Washington University in St. Louis for Northwestern in 2007, he discovered a gene in Yersinia pestis, known as PLA, that allows pestis to replicate quickly in air-filled areas — such as lungs, where it causes pneumonia, the key element of pneumonic plague — but does not affect its replication rate in lymph nodes and the bloodstream. Much more on that below.
Of note, as recently as March of 2017, Wyndham Lathem was a featured speaker at a Chemical and Biological Terrorism Defense Conference that was held in California. His topic title: “Your Own Worst Enemy: How Yersinia pestis Turns the Body Against Itself”. As you can see in the screenshot below, he is listed as being from the Pasteur Institute in France though they denied him entry.
According to the World Health Organization, the primary symptoms of black death plague and the common flu are nearly identical for the first 24 hours but generally by the time doctors realize it’s NOT the flu but something worse, it’s already too late. Doctors warn that antibiotics during the plague must be taken within that first 24 hours or rapid death will follow. And as we learn in more detail below, Lathem had discovered a gene in Yersinia pestis that allowed it to spread much more quickly within the lungs and in the very same pneumonic form that is now striking Madagascar. Just a coincidence? From the Express:
Most of the cases reported in this year’s outbreak in Madagascar are the pneumonic form of the plague, which can be treated easily with antibiotics.
Dr Jagatic emphasised that the Black Death pandemic occurred long before any antibiotics were available, and modern medicine means outbreaks are far less likely to have such a devastating effect.
Despite this, cases of the deadly plague have been spreading rapidly across Madagascar and have soared by 37 per cent in just five days, official figures show.
Yet we also learn that the form of plague striking Madagascar now is particularly deadly because its now taking 3 different forms, not only is it pneumonic but also bubonic and septic, it invades not only the lungs but the lymphatic system and the blood. While generally the plague that regularly strikes Madagascar is bubonic, this time its mostly pneumonic in which it can be spread through the air from one person to the next while bubonic is generally spread from rat or animal to human. From Live Science:
Both forms of the plague are caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas and rats. When the plague-causing bacteria get into a person’s blood from a fleabite, it can travel to the lymph nodes. These lymph nodes become inflamed; in this form, they’re called “buboes,” which is how the bubonic plague gets its name. Along with inflamed lymph nodes, the plague causes symptoms similar to those of malaria or the flu, such as fever, chills and nausea.
The pneumonic plague develops when bubonic plague goes untreated and the infection moves from the lymph nodes into the lungs, Small told Live Science. Once in the lungs, the bacteria can be expelled into the air in suspended particles. There, it can live for more than a day, Small said. Madagascar is used to dealing with the bubonic form, which doesn’t move human to human, said Small, so the high rate of pneumonic plague in this outbreak (about 65 percent of cases thus far) has made it particularly severe.
“If anyone has pneumonic plague, everyone else is at risk,” Small said.
Indeed, this airborne form of the plague can be deadly in as little as 24 hours after symptoms begin, said Lila Rahalison, a microbiologist who has studied the plague for 15 years.
As previously mentioned, according to this very important story from The Daily Northwestern, Lathem had discovered a gene in Yersinia pestis, known as PLA, that allows pestis to replicate quickly in air-filled areas — such as lungs, where it causes pneumonia, the key element of pneumonic plague — but does not affect its replication rate in lymph nodes and the bloodstream.
At Feinberg, Lathem discovered that the development of PLA gene was the factor that caused pestis to evolve from its ancestral bacteria and that PLA deactivates a “key regulator” in humans’ immune system response to bacterial infection, known as PAI-1.
We find it extremely interesting that the current version of the plague now striking Madagascar and threatening to move on to mainland Africa and perhaps the world is largely of the pneumonic variety and is spreading much more quickly than experts had first predicted, now being called the worst outbreak of the plague there in more than 50 years.
The Pentagon’s most secure laboratories may have mislabeled, improperly stored and shipped samples of potentially infectious plague bacteria, which can cause several deadly forms of disease, USA TODAY has learned.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flagged the practices after inspections last month at an Army lab in Maryland, one of the Pentagon’s most secure labs. That helped prompt an emergency ban on research on all bioterror pathogens at nine laboratories run by the Pentagon, which was already reeling from revelations that another Army lab in Utah had mishandled anthrax samples for 10 years.
The bacteria that cause plague, Yersinia pestis, can cause several types of serious and potentially fatal illnesses: bubonic plague, which has symptoms that include swollen lymph nodes; pneumonic plague, which involves the infection spreading to the lungs; and septicemic plague, which may involve skin and other tissues turning black and dying. It’s the pathogen often blamed for the Black Death that killed millions of people in Europe during the 14th century.
Today antibiotics can be used to treat the diseases, but plague still kills about 11% of those sickened, according to the CDC. Untreated pneumonic plague has a fatality rate of about 93% and can be spread from person to person through aerosols generated during coughing.
The new CDC investigation is focused on specimens created and stored by Dugway, Edgewood and two other military labs for further distribution by the Defense Department’s Critical Reagents Program, a scientific materials supply group that offers a catalog of what are supposed to be “inactivated” and other pathogen specimens for researchers to use in developing and testing biodefense products, such as detection equipment and diagnostic tests.
THIS IS HOW DEAGLE MAY PLAY OUT! IMAGINE CHEMTRAILS BEING THE PRIMARY AEROSOLIZED MATRIX AND ADDING BIO COMPONENT ‘K FOR KILL EVERYONE’, THE COMBO MIGHT PRODUCE A 90% KILL RATE – THIS HAS BEEN THE PLAN ALL ALONG! WHEN THE FINAL DAY OF SPRAYING COMES, 100’S OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE COULD DIE OVERNIGHT!
We also know that ‘ISIS’ wants to weaponize the plague via a laptop found back in 2014 allegedly outlining those devious plans and as is warned in this story over at Foreign Policy titled “War Without Soldiers”, future warfare will be fought on very different kinds of battle fields, with very different kinds of weapons with advances in biological engineering poised to further reduce the role of large armies and traditional weapons. From their story:
Picture a rogue scientist crafting a bio-engineered virus that disabled or killed only when it encountered a specific DNA signature — or the DNA signatures of all the close blood relatives of a political leader. Why bring an army to war when you can simply bring a scientist and a test tube?
Like cyberwarfare, bioweapons don’t need to kill to be effective. Imagine a bio-engineered virus able to degrade cognitive functioning in its targets, causing delusions or hallucinations — or a virus designed to cause sterility in a genetically-related ethnic population.
So, why was ‘rogue scientist’ Wyndham Lathem able to get his hands upon one of the most deadly bacteria on the face of the planet when obviously, the nation of France found out something about him that the US apparently didn’t know? Or, was Lathem simply being used for a deeper, darker plot that stretches now way beyond the jail cell that he sits within?
As we’re warned, bioweapons programs are often tested for efficacy upon a small and isolated segment of a population such as what Madagascar offers in case anything unforseen takes place. And let’s remember the classic movie “Outbreak” in which a fictional ebola-type virus is first discovered nearly 30 years prior to its reappearance in America and the steps taken by those within the military to both use it and attempt to prevent its spread. How far would they go? The 2nd video below is a scene from that movie in which we see the extreme measures that are taken to contain such an outbreak. The 3rd video below is the official trailer from that classic movie.
How did Eric York’s doctor miss something as uniquely horrifying as the plague?
Turns out just about every doctor would’ve missed it, according to UNC’s Bill Goldman. “The first symptoms of the plague really are indistinguishable from the flu,” he says. But unlike the flu, the plague is already well on its way to shutting down the lungs by the time a patient begins to feel sick.
It’s a sneaky, extremely contagious, and fatal disease, three reasons why governments and researchers think the plague is a bioterrorism threat—a twenty-first-century weapon of mass destruction.In medieval times of war, combatants would catapult infected bodies over city walls. Today, a bioterrorist attack would be stealthier and a lot more dangerous.
After the anthrax scare of 2001, the U.S. government pushed for scientists to research various biological warfare threats, such as Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the plague. “I hate to put it this way, but terrorists aren’t going to unload a bunch of rats or fleas into town,” Goldman says. They’ll culture the bacteria in massive amounts.
“They’ll try to spread the disease by an aerosol,” he says. Victims wouldn’t smell it or see it. They wouldn’t even feel a thing at first, but the disease would be on a rampage. Thousands of people would get sick but have no idea they had the plague until it was too late to save them.
The plague is such a silent killer because Yersinia pestis doesn’t trigger the same sort of quick immune response that most bacterial infections do. When a person contracts the plague, the bacteria multiply from a few microbes to a billion within 48 hours. But for some reason the lungs—typically very good at getting rid of undesirables—don’t respond.
Lathem begins speaking about his visit to Madagascar prior to the outbreak of the current deadly plague there at the 2 minute 36 second mark though this entire video is well worth listening to and will be expanded upon within the next story as he outlines a very real possibility of how hundreds of millions could die overnight.
The death toll in Madagascar due to the plague has jumped for the first time since health officials claimed the infection was in the beginning stages of control. With the new uptick in those who died, the fear that the disease will spread to the United Kingdom has been confirmed as “100 percent likely.”
The plague death toll has now shown signs that it’s picking up speed again. Official figures reveal 165 people have now lost their lives in Madagascar’s “worst outbreak in 50 years.” Recent data shows a 15 percent jump in fatalities over just three days, coupled with scientists concerned that the black death has reached a “crisis” point. Ten other African countries have also been placed on high alert, warning that an outbreak could occur at any time.
At least 2,034 people have been infected down by a more lethal form of the black death so far in the country, which lies off the coast of Africa, according to WHO statistics. Some experts fear the disease (which is so deadly because it is airborne) could mutate and become untreatable during this year’s outbreak – which is expected to blight Madagascar until April. Others worry the plague will go beyond mainland Africa and eventually reach the US, Europe, and Britain. The plague spreads easily and can kill within 48 hours. That would leave millions more vulnerable to the outbreak, and create a short supply of life-saving antibiotics.
According to the Daily Mail, experts warn the outbreak of plague in Madagascar this year is being fueled by a strain more lethal than the one which usually strikes the country. This form of the pneumonic plague is airborne, easily spread by a cough or a sneeze, and has been responsible for two-thirds of all infections this year. The bubonic form of the plague, responsible for the “Black Death” in the 14th century strikes the country each year and infects around 600 people. But with over 2000 alread infected by pneumonic plague (and counting) health officials aren’t willing to quit sounding alarms just yet.
Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the world-renowned University of East Anglia, was the first expert to predict the plague could travel across the sea. He previously said: “The big anxiety is it could spread to mainland Africa, it’s not probable, but certainly possible, that might then be difficult to control. If we don’t carry on doing stuff here, at one point something will happen and it will get out of our control and cause huge devastation all around the world.” There is always a risk with travel that the disease will spread globally, Hunter added.
“We don’t want a situation where the disease spreads so fast it gets out of control. We are talking about it spreading in days rather than weeks.” But Hunter is adamant that a well-developed country could manage the plague should a global outbreak occur. Hopefully, most will never have to find out how well another country can manage this infection.
A few health experts have warned that there is no threat to the UK, however, some have warned the plague outbreak will certainly spread to the region. Richard Conroy, the founder of Sick Holiday, has sent a chilling warning to UK authorities. Conway is saying it’s “only a matter of time” before the disease arrives on British soil. Conroy warned it is inevitable that the plague will spread due to the vast movement of people across the globe. “I believe that it’s 100 percent likely that plague will arrive in the UK once more – it’s just a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that this is a real threat – a ticking time bomb that’s waiting to decimate the world,” Conroy continued. “With the current outbreak still remaining treatable with antibiotics, however, the current risk is low.”
Face masks are placed on children in Antananarivo, Madagascar (AP Photo/Alexander JOE)
The pneumonic plague has already infected 2,000 in Madagascar and killed 143 in the country’s worst outbreak in 50 years. But health officials are now warning the deadly bacteria could mutate and become untreatable as it spreads across the globe.
Coupled with the high likelihood that this disease could spread globally by an infected traveler getting on a plane to Europe or America, health officials are now warning that the strain of plague which has already killed more than 140 Madagascar could mutate and become untreatable.
Professor Paul Hunter has warned that, while it would be rather easy for an advanced country to contain the disease in its current form, he fears that it could evolve into something far more dangerous. Hunter, who is a disease expert at the University of East Anglia, told the Daily Star: “If it reaches the UK, Europe or the US it would be similar to the Ebola outbreak. We would have a few isolated cases but it shouldn’t spread like it has in Madagascar.” But he had more to add. “As with any disease, it’s a real worry that it mutates and become untreatable,” Hunter said.
Symptoms of the plague include a very high fever, coughing (potentially coughing up blood), and headaches. Ten African nations have already been put on alert that the plague could easily spread to their region of the globe. The plague can be fatal 24-48 hours after infection, but antibiotics will take care of the infection.
Schools and universities have been closed with a ban issued on public gatherings, such as the tradition of “dancing with the dead” which has been partially blamed for the disease’s spread. The current outbreak is also highly unusual as it has affected urban areas increasing the risk of transmission, according to the World Health Organization. WHO has delivered 1.2 million doses of antibiotics to fight the disease while the Red Cross has been training hundreds of volunteers on the island to publicize preventative measures.
The plague that’s airborne and has killed at least 124 people in Madagascar is now blamed on “dancing with corpses.” This is the time of year when the dead are wrapped in sheets and paraded through the streets while others dance around the bodies.
The local tradition is said to be one of the major causes of the spread of this disease. Since it’s airborne, anyone coming close to the corpse of a person who has died of the black death could themselves, catch the infection. Health officials suspect it’s no coincidence that the outbreak coincides with the time of year when families customarily exhume the remains of dead relatives, wrap them in a sheet, and dance with them through the streets in a sacred ritual, AFP reports.
“If a person dies of pneumonic plague and is then interred in a tomb that is subsequently opened for [the ritual], the bacteria can still be transmitted and contaminate whoever handles the body,” said Willy Randriamarotia, Madagascar’s health ministry chief of staff.
Some locals believe the whole plague is some kind of a government conspiracy, and say they have no intention of forgoing the ritual known as “famadihana.” They say they will continue to dance with the dead and intend to honor their ancestors. “I will always practice the turning of the bones of my ancestors — plague or no plague. The plague is a lie,” Helene Raveloharisoa told the wire service.
Josephine Ralisiarisoa firmly believes the country’s cash-strapped government is just exaggerating the problem to get money ahead of an election next year. And it isn’t that anyone is putting this past a government to lie for profits, but health officials have even warned tourists, a source of money, to stay away from Madagascar for their own health. “I have participated in at least 15 famadihana ceremonies in my life. And I’ve never caught the plague,” she told the AFP.
Face masks are placed on children in Antananarivo, Madagascar (AP Photo/Alexander JOE)
The fears that the “black death” would spread from Madagascar have now taken hold. As nations grapple with the outbreak of the bubonic plague, nine countries are sounding warnings that the disease is spreading rapidly.
The deadly plague outbreak that has struck Madagascar’s major cities has yet to “peak” and that could make the spread of this infection into the surrounding regions more likely. Dr. Ashok Chopra, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas, told The Sun Online the crisis in Madagascar had yet to peak. He also sounded the alarm to neighboring countries. Since there are regular flights in and out of Madagascar and this outbreak has so far, been impossible to contain, other nations are now at risk.
Speaking from Madagascar, Christine South, head of IFRC’s (International Federation of Red Cross) emergency operations, said: “With anything like this there is a possibility that somebody could be infected and get on a plane. We have done preparedness support to some of the neighboring countries.” Tourists have been warned to stay out of Madagascar until doctors can get the plague under control to prevent its spread.
The outbreak is considered a much bigger threat to the region than in previous years because it has taken on its pneumonic form. That means it is airborne and spread by sneezing and coughing. Not only that, but the plague has a very short incubation time. Once exposed, some people will die within 24 hours.
Experts say the epidemic could still worsen as the death tolls hit 124 and more than 1,300 are left infected. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now issued alarming warnings in nine countries too. “If they are traveling shorter distances and they’re still in the incubation period, and they have the pneumonic (form) then they could spread it to other places,” said Chopra. “We don’t want to have a situation where the disease spreads so fast it sort of gets out of control. Most of the cases in the past have been of the bubonic plague but if you look at this particular outbreak, 70 percent of the cases are pneumonic plague, which is the most deadly form of the disease. If the treatment is not given in a very short period of time these people will end up dying.”
Both forms of the plague can be cured with antibiotics, but getting treatment quickly is the key to survival.
Travelers are being warned to keep their distance from areas of Madagascar affected by the bubonic plague. As the outbreak worsens, some doctors are even warning that “no one is safe” from the disease.
Officials have reported infections in 17 of the island nation’s 22 regions since the outbreak started in August. And the number of cases is growing by the day, said Elhadj As Sy, the secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as the nation put all hospitals on high alert. The hospitals have also begun implementing preventative measures with attempts to stall the spread of the bacterial infection.
The IFRC said it’s introducing the same “safe and dignified” burial methods used in West Africa during the 2014 Ebola epidemic. This helps cut the chain of transmission by preventing further infections through direct contact with infected corpses.
Last week, less than 60 people had died and around 600 had been infected. Now, there are 911 confirmed cases in addition to the almost 100 deaths. While cases of bubonic plague occur in Madagascar nearly every year, the much more dangerous and deadly pneumonic plague has never been so prevalent. It arrived earlier than expected this year, and has become much more contagious with it being transmitted from person to person through the air. Pneumonic plague is the most life-threating form of the infection caused by the manifestation of a Yersinia pestis bacterialinfection.
Although the black plague can be treated effectively with antibiotics, the incubation time of this bacteria is incredibly short. Death often occurs within 12-24 hours of becoming infected. The bubonic strain of the disease is spread through the bites of infected fleas, whereas the more contagious and deadly pneumonic type is spread through the coughing or sneezing of an infected person.
Elhadj As Sy said that overcoming the epidemic would require long-term help, not “just intervening at the peak and then forgetting about it”. Dr. Manitra Rakotoarivony, Madagascar’s director of health promotion, said: “Normally, people who catch the plague live in poor areas, but people in every place in society are catching the disease.”
Jimmy Whitworth, professor of International Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told The Sun: “It has been a long time since we have seen the plague in an urban environment.
Although health officials have said that internationally, the threat is still fairly low, they’ve also said no one in Madagascar is safe, including travelers, spiking concerns over a possible global pandemic.
Very little sounds more unsettling than the risk of catching “the plague” but most of us think this is just something that was around during the Middle Ages because of poor hygiene. Unfortunately, that’s incorrect, and to prove it, there is an epidemic of the pneumonic plague in Madagascar right now.
We all remember reading about The Black Death during history lessons in school. It was a horrific pandemic that nearly wiped out Europe, killing a disputed number of people that ranges between 50 million and 100 million. Also known as the pneumonic plague, here is a quick video to get you up to speed on your medieval history.
It’s bad and it’s reminiscent of the Liberian Ebola outbreak in 2013, that alarmingly made its way to American soil. The New York Times reported on the situation in Madagascar:
Since August, the country has reported over 200 infections and 33 deaths.
The outbreak is beginning to resemble the early stages of the West African Ebola crisis in 2014: a lethal disease normally confined to sparsely populated rural areas has reached crowded cities and is spreading in a highly transmissible form.
Schools, universities and other public buildings have closed so they can be sprayed to kill fleas, which may carry the infection. The government has forbidden large public gatherings, including sporting events and concerts.
Fears that the outbreak could spread to other countries are rising.
Late last month, plague struck a basketball tournament for teams from Indian Ocean countries, killing a coach from the Seychelles and infecting another from South Africa. The players are being monitored, Malagasy health authorities told the W.H.O.
Madagascar typically has about 400 cases of plague each year between September and April, but they are usually focused in the nation’s central highlands and spread by fleas living on rats in rice-growing areas. This outbreak is unusually worrying because most new cases are in cities and are pneumonic plague, the form transmitted by coughing. (source)
Madagascar is a large island of 224,533 square miles off the coast of southeastern Africa. It has a population of more than 25 million people in an area that is approximately twice the size of the state of Arizona.
In comparison, Arizona has just over 6 million people, so as you can see, Madagascar is densely populated.
The biggest city on the island is Antananarivo, which has a population of 1,391,433, and concerningly, Patient Zero of the current outbreak traveled through the city by public transit, causing great concern of the possible ramifications.
The Madagascar outbreak started in August, when a 31-year-old man originally thought to have malaria traveled by bush taxi from the central highlands to his home in the coastal city of Toamasina, passing through the capital, Antananarivo.
He died en route and “a large cluster of infections” broke out among his contacts, according to a W.H.O. update issued Oct. 4. Those contacts passed it on to others.
Plague was not confirmed until blood samples collected from a 47-year-old woman who died on Sept. 11 in an Antananarivo hospital of what appeared to be pneumonia were tested at Madagascar’s branch of the Pasteur Institute. The samples came up positive on a rapid test for plague. (source)
Hasn’t Madagascar dealt with the plague before?
Madagascar is no stranger to the plague, with about 400 cases every year, but this time around, it’s the pneumonic plague, which is far more contagious and deadly.
…the majority of cases are of pneumonic plague, which affects the lungs and is transmitted through coughing. It is considered to be the most deadly form of the disease and can be fatal within 24 hours.
The less deadly bubonic plague is often spread by rodents fleeing forest fires. Humans usually become ill after being bitten by infected fleas.
Public gatherings have been banned in response to the latest outbreak.
A specialised hospital in the capital Antananarivo is struggling to cope with the influx of ill people, local media reported, with long queues outside for face masks and medicine.
This year urban areas have been affected, a development that has worried aid agencies in a country not renowned for a robust healthcare system. (source)
Of course, with urban areas comes public transportation, and even more alarmingly for the rest of the world, an international airport. There has already been at least one documented case of pneumonic plague leaving the island, causing Air Seychelles to halt service to Madagascar:
“Following the advice and request of the Public Health Authority of Seychelles concerning the plague epidemic in Madagascar, Air Seychelles will temporarily suspend its services between Seychelles and Madagascar from Sunday 8 October 2017.”
This is the content of the official communiqué of Air Seychelles which will no longer serve Madagascar from tomorrow 08 October 2017.
It is certain that the Seychelles authorities did not appreciate the death of the Seychellois basketball coach in Madagascar following a pulmonary plague he contracted on the spot during the basketball tournament in Antananarivo. It was only after this unfortunate death that the Malagasy authorities took action and began a thorough awareness campaign. (source)
Aside from this, I could find no other travel restrictions to or from Madagascar.
What is the plague?
There are three types of plague: bubonic plague, septicemic plague, and pneumonic plague.
Bubonic plague is spread via infected fleas and small animals. It can result from bites or exposure to the body fluids of dead, plague-infected animals. It can enter through the skin by a flea bite and travel to the lymph system. Treatment with antibiotics must occur within the first 24 hours of symptoms. The mortality rate for those treated ranges from 1-15%, but for untreated patients, ranges from 40-60%.
Septicemic plague is the rarest form of plague and is nearly always fatal without treatment. It attacks the bloodstream. Treatment must begin immediately after symptoms have shown or it will be too late. It is transmitted from flea bites, rodent bites, or mammal bites from infected creatures.
In septicemic plague, bacterial endotoxins cause disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), where tiny blood clots form throughout the body, commonly resulting in localised ischemic necrosis, tissue death from lack of circulation and perfusion.
DIC results in depletion of the body’s clotting resources, so that it can no longer control bleeding. Consequently, the unclotted blood bleeds into the skin and other organs, leading to red or black patchy rash and to hematemesis (vomiting blood) or hemoptysis (spitting blood). The rash may cause bumps on the skin that look somewhat like insect bites, usually red, sometimes white in the center. (source)
As awful as the other two versions sound, the pneumonic plague is the most contagious and worrisome. It causes a severe lung infection that is often confused with pneumonia, delaying essential treatment. It can be spread via rodents and flea bites.but also from the sputum of those infected. It can become completely airborne, making it far more difficult to avoid infection.
It must be treated within 24 hours or is nearly always fatal. People who have been exposed to pneumonic plague can be treated prophylactically with antibiotics.
What can be done to treat the plague?
The World Health Organization has sent over a million doses of antibiotics and has protective gear on the way. There are also other measures in place as reported by the BBC.
The authorities have also banned prison visits in the two worst affected areas to prevent the spread of the disease.
The risk of contamination is high in overcrowded and unsanitary jails…
Public gatherings have been banned in response to the latest outbreak.
A specialised hospital in the capital Antananarivo is struggling to cope with the influx of ill people, local media reported, with long queues outside for face masks and medicine.
This year urban areas have been affected, a development that has worried aid agencies in a country not renowned for a robust healthcare system…
On 30 September, Prime Minister Olivier Mahafaly Solonandrasana in a televised statement announced that all public gatherings would be banned in Antananarivo to prevent the spread of the disease following the death of the basketball coach.
In addition to school closures across the country, authorities on 5 October ordered the closure of the country’s two main universities in the eastern port of Toamasina and Antananarivo for disinfection purposes. Sports events have also been cancelled.
There have been concerted efforts to set up rat traps and spray insecticides in several neighbourhoods to prevent the spread of the disease. The government has also established a toll-free number to report any new cases. (source)
The local government is also cracking down on anyone who spreads information that is not in line with the national Ministry of Health.
The Ministry of Health in addition has also taken measures against social media users who it accuses of spreading “false news” on the disease to create panic. A Facebook user was arrested and investigated on 3 October for publishing a report which did not correspond to the toll given by the ministry. (source)
That’s unsettling, isn’t it?
Should we be worried?
At this point, we have no new cases of pneumonic plague in the United States. It has happened before, as one example, when there was an outbreak caused by an infected dog in Colorado in 2015 that then turned into human-to-human transmission. (source) A few months ago, fleas in Arizona were discovered to be carrying the plague. (source)
If untreated, people still can die from the plague, which in the United States occurs in the wild, primarily in rural parts of western states, at a rate of about 10 to 15 cases per year, according to the CDC. Most of the naturally occurring cases are bubonic plague, which can bring on pneumonic plague if left untreated and a person’s lungs become infected.
However, the disease is completely treatable with modern antibiotics if it is diagnosed early.
Worldwide, the World Health Organization reports 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague each year.
Most infections in the United States have occurred after disposing of squirrels or mice that died from the infection or traveling in an area where infected rodents live. Health officials recommend staying away animals that are lethargic or appear sick. (source)
At this time, we have absolutely no documentation of this bout from Madagascar affecting the United States.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Never forget that people thought Ebola wouldn’t make it to our shores and it did. The reason it didn’t turn into a full-blown pandemic had absolutely nothing to do with a slipshod official response, either. Read this to learn just how easily an epidemic on foreign shores can turn into a pandemic that affects the whole world.
While the plague is not difficult to treat with antibiotics if caught quickly, one thing that concerns me is the overuse of antibiotics in the United States. They simply don’t work as well for us these days because of near constant exposure from meat and dairy products.
Think of it like a tropical storm, hundreds of miles out to sea. We have no idea if it will reach our shores or how strong it will be, but it’s important to be watchful and ready in case it heads our way. Don’t panic, but be ready to take action to protect your family.
