Kyrgyzstan, the nightmare of bubonic plague returns
Bishkek (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Temir Issakunov,
a 15 year old native of northeastern Kyrgyzstan, died last week of bubonic plague. This is the first case in
30 years. The exact dynamics
of the infection are still uncertain, but
according to initial hypotheses put
forward by doctors the disease
has passed from rodents to humans by fleas.
Concerned by the possibility of an epidemic, the authorities in Bishkek have intensified their control in the northeastern region of the country on the border with Kazakhstan,
imposing controls and preventive care
on the population. "We suspect that
the patient was infected by a flea bite," the Minister of Health
Tolo Isakov said in recent days.
A team of experts has already been
sent to the affected area to distribute
antibiotics and carry out tests. In the region of
Issik-Kul, at least 2 thousand people
were examined, and a hundred of them are already in quarantine.
The bubonic plague, now very rare, is an epidemic disease that decimated the population
of Europe during the Middle Ages killing
at least 25 million people. It
spreads primarily through rodents.
The last confirmed cases, according to data provided by the World Health Organisation, were recorded
in Peru in 2010, when at least 12 people were found infected.
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