Swine Flu and Other Pandemics

Plague Alert Issued After Teenage Boy Dies

August 26, 2010

SkyNews - A health alert has been issued in Bolivia after a 14-year-old boy died from bubonic plague.

At least eight people are suffering from the disease in Apolo, a town with a population of 5,000 on the border with Peru.

The teenager was the third person to have died as a result of the outbreak in the past two months.

Health controls and disease prevention programs will be stepped up in the affected areas, regional health minister Rene Barrientos said.

The bubonic plague, commonly referred to as the Black Death in Europe, causes swollen and painful lymph glands in areas of the neck, armpits or groin.

It also causes fever and can be life-threatening if it gets into the bloodstream.

According to the World Health Organization, it is the most common form of plague, caused by infected flea bites or direct contact with infected animals such as rodents.

The last outbreak of bubonic plague in northern Peru was in 1994. It killed 35 people and infected more than 1,100 others.

Bubonic Plague Re-Appears in Peru

August 4, 2010

Americas Quarterly - The death of a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome on July 26 signals a fresh outbreak of bubonic plague in Peru, Minister of Health Oscar Ugarte revealed this week. A total of 33 cases have been linked to the disease, which so far has been limited to the northern province of Ascope.

Bubonic plague is spread by rats and other rodents, which are abundant in sugar cane plantations where, according to the health ministry, the newest epidemic started. The disease itself is transmitted by flea bites. Doctors working with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center Detachment have also identified four cases of pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted through the air.

The government has shipped six metric tons of Carbaryl, an insecticide, to the region to head off the disease’s continued spread. It is also fumigating homes and ports in the region, and blocking shipments from the north to Lima. The last time an epidemic of the plague swept through Peru, in 1994, 1,104 people were infected and 35 died.

Peru: Possible bubonic plague outbreak

Peru Suffers Deadly Outbreak of Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague

August 3, 2010

London Telegraph - An outbreak of bubonic and pneumonic plague in Peru has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in a northern coastal province.

Oscar Ugarte, the health minister, said authorities were screening sugar and fish meal exports from Ascope province, located about 325 miles north-west of Lima.

Chicama beach, a popular draw for tourists to Peru, is not far away.

Mr Ugarte said the boy, who had Down syndrome, died of bubonic plague on July 26.

He said on Monday that most of the infections were bubonic plague, with four cases of pneumonic plague.

The former is transmitted by flea bites, the latter by airborne contagion. The disease is curable if treated early with antibiotics.

The first recorded plague outbreak in Peru was in 1903. The last, in 1994, killed 35 people.

The bubonic plague is believed to have been the cause of the Black Death, which swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing one third of the population, or more than 25 million people.