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Article: Town sealed off as deadly plague kills herdsmen
- Article from:
- Belfast Telegraph
- Article date:
- August 4, 2009
CopyrightCopyright 2009 Belfast Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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TWO Tibetan herdsmen have died of pneumonic plague in a remote
part of north-west China's Qinghai province, prompting health
officials to seal off an entire town in a bid to stop one of the
deadliest diseases known to man from spreading.
A team of experts has been rushed to the quarantined area, police
have set up checkpoints and local officials are handing out
information leaflets and making TV and radio announcements about how
to prevent infection.
Pneumonic plague can kill within 24 hours and its close links to
the bacteria that causes the bubonic plague that killed huge swathes
of the population of medieval Europe means it occupies a
particularly horrifying place in the collective psyche.