(ZEROHEDGE) – While the world continues to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, several other (far more deadly) viruses have made emerged in Africa – the most recent among them being bubonic plague, which has killed at least 31 people and sickened over 500 in the Biringi area of Ituri Province in northeastern DR Congo between November 15 and December 13, according to AFP, citing Ituri Health Minister Patrick Karamura.
Aside from five instances of pneumonic plague and two cases of septicemic plague – which occurs when the disease spreads to the lungs or blood, the vast majority of cases were bubonic plague – with younger people suffering the most. The average age of patients has been 13, with the youngest being a three-month-old baby, according to Anne Laudisoit of New York-based Ecohealth Alliance (which has made recent headlines for their years-long collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology).
According to the World Health Organization, outbreaks are a regular occurrence of the plague which is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium and is endemic to the province where it was first confirmed in 1926. It works by traveling through the bloodstream and attacking the nearest lymph node before spreading to others – causing painful swelling which can sometimes cause the nodes to break open into 'buboes,' according to RT.
The post Latest viral threat: Bubonic plague emerges in Congo appeared first on WND.
