NEWS: Pneumonic Plague Strikes Miners in Congo

More than 7000 workers at a diamond mine in remote Congo have fled into the surrounding rain forest after at least 61 of their coworkers died of pneumonic plague. The illness first emerged in December and quickly began claiming lives. The miners fled into the wilderness in an attempt to evade the deadly disease and are now cut off from help. UN health officials believe hundreds, if not thousands, of those who fled may be sick and dying.



Pneumonic plague is highly contagious and has a significantly higher death rate than the bubonic strain of the bacteria. It is caused when the Yersinia pestis bacterium infects the lungs. The infection, without treatment, rapidly leads to severe pneumonia and usually causes death within days.

Officials do not believe this outbreak will affect the outside world, but do concede that the number infected is unusually large for the area. Congo has periodic outbreaks of plague as well as other exotic diseases such as Ebola.


[edit on 18-2-2005 by Banshee]

[edit on 19-2-2005 by John bull 1]

[edit on 19-2-2005 by John bull 1]

what worries me about this article is what about the sick ones that make back to populated areas???????

I mean I not saying count them as already dead but some kind of quarintine is definatly needed ya I think I misplet that but oh welll

Originally posted by Lamagraa
what worries me about this article is what about the sick ones that make back to populated areas???????

I mean I not saying count them as already dead but some kind of quarintine is definatly needed ya I think I misplet that but oh welll

Agreed there needs to be something put into place to protect populated areas, but after reading the article, it looks like the WHO are having difficulty in identifying possible carriers as well as where they may have gone. hopefully this will not get too out of hand.

all i know is i dont want this one wallking around the planet.can you imagine if this was dug up near a large city ouch.the mining companies need to be very careful digging around down below the deeps of earth.flukemol.......

Oh my, I bet it this was out on the open too late, the ones that fleet are already in the regular population.

I wonder how long will take for the outbreak to be in another country.

I've been doing some reading about the Black Death and the Dark Ages, so seeing the word "plague" caught my attention


Actually, Marg, thee are people dying from plague every year. There are always carrier animals around. If something triggers the carrier animals to propagate out of control, as happened in the past, a pandemic can occur.

Since then, human plague in the United States has occurred as mostly scattered cases in rural areas (an average of 10 to 15 persons each year). Globally, the World Health Organization reports 1,000 to 3,000 cases of plague every year. In North America, plague is found in certain animals and their fleas from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains, and from southwestern Canada to Mexico.

www.cdc.gov...

And here's the article on plague from wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org...

Thanks for the links, you know I have heard before that once in a while a cases are known on people here in the US.

What is scary about this variant is that its transmission is spread much easier. Its a nasty disease once it takes hold as well. Rember it almost took the population of Europe back about 300 years.

Fred, you want scary? How about plague as a biological weapon? The wikipedia article has a section on it. That the US and old USSR have weaponized plague.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Fred, you want scary? How about plague as a biological weapon? The wikipedia article has a section on it. That the US and old USSR have weaponized plague.

It is, but the plague unless mutated is a treatable disease. Now small pox or tuleremia are much more scary IMHO. Im part of the padiatric end of biowarfare responces for our hospital. The thing that scare me is the ones we don't know of.

Pneumonic plague is the really infectious one because it's airborne. (rather than bubonic plague)

I think you've got to view any major outbreak of a deadly virus like this as an opportunity for Islamic terrorists.

It's like putting a nuke in the jungle and saying help yourself.

Step 1: Send Suicide Jihadists to the area. 10 is plenty.

Step 2: Buy them round the world airplane tickets keep them continuously on the move through international airports until they're too sick then take them out of circulation.

Step 3: Stand back and watch.

Yes Plague can be treated with anti-biotics but just the damage done by the panic of a plague outbreak in the U.S.A and Europe would be enough.

[edit on 19-2-2005 by John bull 1]

An outbreak of what tests suggest is pneumonic plague has spread to a second town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a medical charity.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says it believes it has found a case in a second area in the north-east.

Thousands have fled the remote diamond mining town of Zobia since the disease first emerged at the end of last year.
news.bbc.co.uk...

When I was in the Navy, I was given several plague shots, supposedly as a type of vaccination. They claimed that the area we were in was prone to animals with bubonic plague. Myself and one other guy I know of were selected from a group of about 30 guys and given one shot a week over a three week period. After the second week the other guy refused to go back. We were both completely bed ridden for the entire time, It hurt to move, breath, eat, everything except lie very still.

The most interesting thing about all this is that my medical records don't show half the shots I got while in boot camp or while stationed there.

Phae