Beijing - A town of 10,000 people in north-west China has been placed under quarantine after one person died from pneumonic plague and eleven others were infected, according to local health authorities. A 32-year-old herder from Ziketan Town, in the Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, died from the infection, according a statement released late Saturday on the website of the Qinghai Province Health Bureau.
The infected, mainly relatives of the deceased, have been isolated in designated hospitals where they are receiving treatment, the bureau said.
According to the World Health Organisation, the pneumonic plague is the most virulent and least common form of plague, and can be transferred from person to person through infected droplets from coughing. Rapid diagnosis is key to reducing complications and fatalities.
Authorities have urged those who have travelled to Ziketan since July 16, and developed a fever or coughing, to go to local disease control centres.
