By Caribbean Medical News Staff
The World Health Organization ( WHO) says that 47 people have died as a result of the resurgence of the bubonic plague (known as the black death in medieval Europe) since the January 2014.
Almost 50 people have died in Madagascar while West Africa deals with Ebola.
The outbreak of the Black Death has prompted health officials to mount a campaign to disinfect and address all issues in order to halt the spread of the disease which has killed at least one person in the capital of the country.
In addition to disinfection, antibiotics have also been given to at least 200 people. Known as The Plague, the WHO says the disease, which is carried by rats and fleas infects humans who are bitten. There is a strain that is also equally deadly that causes pneumonia and is airborne and spread from person to person by coughing. This type can cause death within 24 hrs and is particularly dangerous.
Hygiene is obviously an issue in affected areas, especially the slums according to reports.
According to Christophe Rogier of the island’s Institut Pasteur, the island recorded cases of the plague ten years ago.
‘It is possible that the plague continued to survive in Antananarivo for ten years without touching humans” he said though the virus may have been restricted to rodents.
So far, the Country has recorded 500 cases each year since 2009, a fact that seems to have gone unnoticed internationally as the world copes with Ebola, chikunyngya and other illnesses that have seen a resurgence within recent times.
The Bubonic Plague which was also called the Black Death is said to have killed over 25 million people across Europe back in the Middle Ages.
