As if a global pandemic of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 weren't enough, Gizmodo reports the bubonic plague has reared its nasty head once again.<br />Sunday, officials from Inner Mongolia revealed a shepherd has been diagnosed with bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death.<br />At the same time, a second case has been identified in neighboring Mongolia. Both patients had had contact with a wild marmot, and both are recovering.<br />In the region, subsistence hunting is common. Marmots and other rodents are thought to be a source of the plague, which they pass on to fleas.<br />If caught early enough, the bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics.<br />These alarming incidents follow two reports of pneumonic plague, also in Inner Mongolia, from November, and two deaths last May due to bubonic plague.<br />Both are caused by the same strain of bacteria, but the pneumonic plague is able to spread from person to person.
