<ul><li>China has reported a <keyword id="2438295" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="bubonic-plague">bubonic plague</keyword> infection — a bacterial infection that is transmitted by fleas. </li><li>The authorities have issued a warning for <keyword id="9523746" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="plague-prevention">plague prevention</keyword> and control — and directed its residents to report any sick or dead rodents and refrain from eating animals that may be carrying the plague. </li><li>According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), plague can be transmitted between animals and also spread from animals to humans. However, human to human infection is rare, in this case. </li><li>The infection causes a sudden fever, bodyache, vomiting and a feeling of nausea. </li><li>As many as 3,248 cases of plague have been reported globally — including 584 deaths — between 2010 to 2015.</li></ul>While the world is battling coronavirus pandemic, showing no signs of dying down, China has reported a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/chinese-city-sounds-alert-for-bubonic-plague/articleshow/76807488.cms">bubonic plague infection</a> — a bacterial infection that is transmitted by fleas. The authorities in China issued a warning for plague prevention and control after Bayannur in Northern China confirmed two such cases. “At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly,” PTI reported citing the local health authority in Bayannur. The officials have directed its residents to report any sick or dead rodents and refrain from eating animals that may be carrying the plague. <ol><li>What is a bubonic plague? Plague is an infectious disease caused by a bacteria Yersinia pestis, present in mammals and fleas. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), plague can be transmitted between animals and also spread from animals to humans.However, human to human infection is rare, in this case.The human transmission of plague happens with the bite of infected fleas, either via direct contact or by inhalation.</li><li>How many people can die of the infection? This is one of the rare but serious diseases that can be transmitted. WHO says that the fatality rate in plague — especially septicaemic form caused by the flow of bacteria in the bloodstream — is 30% to 100%, if untreated.</li><li>What are the symptoms of a bubonic plague infection? There are two kinds of plague infections — bubonic and pneumonic. Usually, the incubation period for people infected with plague is upto seven days and the infection causes a sudden fever, bodyache, vomiting and a feeling of nausea.Bubonic plague is caused when the bacteria enters the lymphatic system (part of the immune system) in the body and there it replicates itself. As a result, the infected node gets swollen and painful — called a ‘bubo.’ The infection can further spread to the lungs, which is called the pneumonic plague.</li><li>What is the past history of such a plague? As per the data by WHO, as many as 3,248 cases of plague have been reported globally — including 584 deaths — between 2010 to 2015. Plague epidemics have occurred in Africa, Asia, and South America earlier. In fact in Madagascar, bubonic plague cases are reported every year during September to April — which is usually known to be the epidemic season. Plague, which was also known as ‘black death’ in the 14th century, caused over 50 million deaths in Europe.</li></ol>

What is bubonic plague⁠— its symptoms, fatality rate and history

<ul><li>The suspected <keyword id="2438295" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="bubonic-plague">bubonic plague</keyword> case was reported on Saturday by a hospital in Bayannur.</li><li>The local health authority announced that the warning period will continue until the end of 2020. </li><li>On July 1, state-run Xinhua news agency said that two suspected cases of bubonic plague reported in Khovd province in western Mongolia have been confirmed by lab test results.</li></ul> A city in northern China on Sunday sounded an alert after a suspected case of bubonic plague was reported, according to official media here. Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, announced a level III warning of plague prevention and control, state-run People's Daily Online reported. The suspected bubonic plague case was reported on Saturday by a hospital in Bayannur. The local health authority announced that the warning period will continue until the end of 2020. "At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly, the local health authority said. On July 1, state-run Xinhua news agency said that two suspected cases of bubonic plague reported in Khovd province in western Mongolia have been confirmed by lab test results. The confirmed cases are a 27-year-old resident and his 17-year-old brother, who are being treated at two separate hospitals in their province, it quoted a health official as saying. The brothers ate marmot meat, the health official said, warning people not to eat marmot meat. A total of 146 people who had contact with them have been isolated and treated at local hospitals, according to Narangerel. Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots. It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A couple died of bubonic plague in the western Mongolian province of Bayan-Ulgii last year after eating raw marmot meat.The news of bubonic plague came after Chinese researchers issued an early warning over another potential pandemic caused by an influenza virus in pigs. Scientists from China Agricultural University, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and other institutes detected a pig influenza virus bearing genotype 4 (G4), which is contagious among pigs and has the possibility of jumping to humans, as the G4 virus is able to bind with human cells, state-run Global Times reported last week. The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak, BBC reported. "Controlling the prevailing G4 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs and close monitoring in human populations, especially workers in the swine industry, should be urgently implemented," Chinese researchers warned in the paper. The new diseases were reported even as China grappled with the second attack of COVID-19 in Beijing after controlling it in Wuhan where it was first reported in December last year. On Saturday, Beijing reported a single-digit COVID-19, local authorities said Sunday. The number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases reached a peak in Beijing on June 13 and 14 and then started declining in general, Xinhua quoted local officials as saying. From June 11 to July 4, the city reported 334 confirmed locally transmitted cases, 47 per cent of whom are workers of the Xinfadi wholesale food market, the official said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/india-just-surpassed-russia-to-become-the-country-with-the-3rd-highest-number-of-coronavirus-infections/articleshow/76804658.cms">India just surpassed Russia to become the country with the 3rd-highest number of coronavirus infections</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-vice-president-launches-a-social-media-super-app-elyments-which-will-take-on-facebook-instagram-and-whatsapp/articleshow/76796178.cms">India’s Vice President launches a social media super app Elyments, which will take on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/intel-will-speed-up-mukesh-ambanis-5g-run-power-him-with-ai-and-possibly-a-jio-laptop/articleshow/76780290.cms">Intel will speed up Mukesh Ambani’s 5G run, power him with AI and possibly a Jio laptop⁠— all in return for massive amount of data</a>

Chinese city sounds alert for bubonic plague

Beijing, Jul 15 (AP) A 15-year-old boy has died in western Mongolia of bubonic plague, the country's national news agency reported. The Health Ministry said laboratory tests confirmed the teenager died of plague that he contracted from an infected marmot, according to the Montsame News Agency. The case prompted the government to impose a quarantine on a portion of the province of Gobi-Altai. Montsame said 15 people who had contact with the boy were isolated. In an unrelated case in neighbouring China, a patient who was infected with plague in the northern region of Inner Mongolia is improving, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. Xinhua said 15 people who had close contact with the patient were released from quarantine on Sunday. The agency said the government ended its top-level emergency response. An official announcement earlier said a warning for the public in the Bayannur region of Inner Mongolia to avoid eating marmot and to report dead animals would last through the end of 2020. (AP) PMS PMS

Report: Mongolian teenager dies of bubonic plague

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The plague, while rare, still infects a few thousand people annually.</li><li>The US reports an average of seven case of plague a year, and the World <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">Health</keyword> Organization gets 1,000 to 2,000 reports of the infection annually.</li><li>Without treatment, the <keyword id="2438295" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="bubonic-plague">bubonic plague</keyword> can kill up to 60% of people who get the <keyword id="6361612" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="disease">disease</keyword>.</li></ul>In early July, amidst a global pandemic, health authorities in China were forced to send out an alert warning the public of a potential outbreak of bubonic plague. After a herdsman in a remote region contracted the disease, the hunting of rodents that might carry the disease was quickly banned."There is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city," a member of the health commission <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/bubonic-plague-triggers-health-alert-in-china-after-herder-is-infected/2020/07/07/bfb8f874-c004-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html">announced.</a> The World Health Organization told the press they would be monitoring the situation, and tourist spots in the area were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/inner-mongolia-plague-tourists-intl-hnk-scli/index.html">closed.</a>The herdsman was rushed to the hospital for treatment, and <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/local/2020-07/06/c_1126199139.htm">reports</a> say he is currently in stable condition.This case served as a reminder to the public that while the disease is largely controlled, cases still occur fairly regularly in a handful of countries.<h2>The US, China, and Madagascar all saw cases recently </h2>This isn't even the first time this year that the disease that caused the Black Death, killing <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/black-death-greatest-catastrophe-ever#:~:text=Benedictow%20describes%20how%20he%20calculated,cent%20of%20Europe's%20entire%20population.&amp;text=The%20disastrous%20mortal%20disease,in%20the%20years%201346%2D53.D53.">60% of medieval Europe's population,</a> was found in China. In November 2019, two people from Inner Mongolia were diagnosed with cases of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-inner-mongolia-reports-fresh-bubonic-plague-case-2019-11">plague.</a>And the disease can be found in other countries as well. In 2014, the island country of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dgmq/feature-stories/Madagascar-plague.html">Madagascar</a> experienced an outbreak of the plague, killing 71, followed by another 2017 outbreak, killing 221 people.Between 1,000 and 2,000 cases of the plague are reported every year to the <a href="https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/plague/en/">World Health Organization,</a> most of which are in Africa, India and Peru, although it is likely a number of cases go unreported.According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/index.html">CDC</a>, the US sees an average of seven cases of plague every year, occurring most commonly in southwestern states like New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.In 2015, researchers swabbed 40 subway stations and <a href="https://www.cell.com/pb/assets/raw/journals/research/cell-systems/do-not-delete/CELS1_FINAL.pdf">reported</a> finding evidence of the plague in places on the subway, in places like a railing at the Winthrop Street station in Brooklyn.In 2002, two visitors, Lucinda Marker and John Tull, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/nyregion/plague-survivors-are-back-in-hospital-to-say-thanks.html">brought the plague to New York City</a> from their ranch in New Mexico. Tull had to have both legs amputated just below the knee.Two years later, the couple returned to New York to thank the surgeon who had saved them. ''Hello, Dr. Silane,'' Mr. Tull <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/11/nyregion/plague-survivors-are-back-in-hospital-to-say-thanks.html">said.</a> ''How are you, sir? I'm walking around.''A plague vaccine is not yet commercially available, and the disease occurs most often in areas with wild rodent populations that carry the bacteria.But unlike the devastated population of 14th century Europe, modern doctors have an understanding of the way the disease works, as well as a tool to fight it. With antibiotics, the mortality has been lowered to 11%, making the prospect of an outbreak of bubonic plague highly unlikely.<h2>The plague spreads via infected animals </h2>The plague, which was the cause of three major pandemics, is caused by a bacteria named Yersinia pestis, or Y. pestis, that spreads via infected animals like rabbits and squirrels. If those animals scratch or bite humans, those humans can get the plague, which will infect their lymphatic systems. Symptoms include open sores, organ failure, and bleeding.If patients don't get immediate treatment, the bacteria can spread in the blood and cause sepsis. Without treatment, the bubonic plague can kill up to 60% of people who get the disease, according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/plague/en/">WHO.</a>The WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/plague/en/">advises</a> people to steer clear of live or dead rodents to avoid contracting the disease.Read more:<a href="https://www.insider.com/disease-outbreaks-deadliest-history">12 of the deadliest disease outbreaks in history</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/city-in-chinas-inner-mongolia-warns-after-suspected-bubonic-plague-case-2020-7">City in China's Inner Mongolia warns after suspected bubonic plague case</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/history-of-people-blamed-for-diseases-like-china-covid-19-2020-3">Trump falsely used the term 'Chinese virus' again. This is not the first time a pandemic has fueled xenophobia.</a>

The bubonic plague is not as rare as you think, with about 7 cases in the US every year and traces found on the New York subway

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A herdsman in <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> has contracted the bubonic <keyword id="56255" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Plague">plague</keyword>.</li><li>Health officials in a Chinese region of <keyword id="329891" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Inner-Mongolia">Inner Mongolia</keyword> have banned the hunting or eating of wild animals which are thought to carry the highly infectious disease.</li><li>The disease is now easily treatable with antibiotics but there are still occasional outbreaks, such as one in Madagascar in 2017.</li></ul>LONDON — Authorities in an autonomous region in northern China have issued a health warning after a local farmer contracted the bubonic plague.A herdsman was reportedly in a stable condition after having been confirmed to have caught the disease on Sunday, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/world/asia/china-bubonic-plague-inner-mongolia.html">according to the New York Times. </a>Health officials in Bayan Mur, a city in Inner Mongolia, on Sunday issued a third-level alert, <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-health-plague/city-in-chinas-inner-mongolia-warns-after-suspected-bubonic-plague-case-idUKKBN2460OU">according to Reuters</a>, which is the second-lowest of four tiers.The alert forbids the hunting or eating of wild animals that could carry the plague and it will be in place until the end of the year. Locals have also been told to report finding any ill and dead animals, as well as people showing signs of a fever of or sudden deaths."At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly," the local health authority said, according to the <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/05/WS5f01d743a310834817257493.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China Daily newspaper</a>.The bubonic plague is a highly transmissible disease caused by a bacterial infection and was the cause of the Black Death, which swept through much of Asia, Europe and Africa in the fourteenth century and claimed <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/black-death-greatest-catastrophe-ever">as many as 50 million lives</a>.It is now easily treatable with antibiotics meaning cases are rare and an epidemic is highly unlikely, and the infected patient is in a stable condition, <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1193592.shtml">according to the Global Times</a>.But there are still occasional outbreaks of the disease — Madasagcar recorded more than 300 cases in 2017, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-53303457">according to a BBC repor</a>t.A Mongolian couple <a href="https://www.insider.com/mongolia-bubonic-plague-death-raw-marmot-meat-2019-5">also died last year</a> after contracting the bubonic plague when they ate raw marmot meat.

The bubonic plague has been found at a hospital in China's Inner Mongolia region

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="163030" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-mexico">New Mexico</keyword> <keyword id="205014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="department-of-health">Department of Health</keyword> said Friday that a man in his 20s died from the septicemic <keyword id="56255" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Plague">plague</keyword>.</li><li>The death marks the state's first human death of the plague since 2015.</li><li>The department said the plague originates with wildlife, namely rodents, and is often spread to humans by fleas.</li></ul>A New Mexico man in his 20s died of the septicemic plague in the state's first death from the condition since 2015, the <a href="https://www.nmhealth.org/news/information/2020/8/?view=1087">state's Department of Health announced Friday</a>.The department said the man was based in the state's Rio Arriba County and died after he was hospitalized."An environmental investigation will take place at the person's home to look for ongoing risk to immediate family members, neighbors and others in the surrounding community," the department said in a release about the death.The man's death marks the first plague-related death in New Mexico since 2015, according to the department. Last year, the state recorded only one human plague case in a 72-year-old man.The plague is caused by the yersinia pestis bacteria and usually originates with animals like rodents. Fleas are a common link for humans to pick up the infection, the department said. The department says common symptoms of the plague in humans include "sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, and weakness," often with "painful swelling of lymph nodes in the groin, armpit, or neck areas." With immediate diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, "the fatality rate in people and pets can be greatly reduced," according to the department.To avoid the plague, the department recommends humans protect themselves and their pets from contact with wildlife or fleas. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plague-new-mexico-black-death-fleas-rodents-2017-6">Business Insider's Kevin Loria previously reported</a> that the bacteria that causes the plague can result in septicemic plague that appears alone or turns into bubonic plague. Infections are persistent in the American West partially because of the high number of wild rodent populations. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/index.html">According to data from the CDC</a>, the US only sees an average of seven human plague cases reported each year.Department of Health secretary Kathy Kunkel warned state residents in a statement that "plague activity in New Mexico is usually highest during the summer months, so it is especially important now to take precautions to avoid rodents and their fleas which can expose you to plague." Read more: <a href="https://www.insider.com/cdc-reports-over-200-infections-in-salmonella-outbreak-2020-7">CDC warns of a 'rapidly growing' Salmonella outbreak amid more than 200 reported infections</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/rise-of-brain-eating-amoeba-naegleria-fowleri-in-us-waters-2020-7">Brain-eating amoebas are thriving in US rivers and lakes. The problem is getting worse every year.</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/what-does-asymptomatic-mean">Asymptomatic means you have an illness without symptoms — but you may still be contagious</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/ohio-prison-inmates-covid-19-positive-tests-2020-4">73% of the inmates at an Ohio prison have tested positive for the coronavirus</a>

A man in his 20s died of the plague in New Mexico's first reported death from the infection in years

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53bf14216bb3f7ae32e33651-599-309/worldplaguemapwebsmall.jpg" border="0" alt="cdc plague map world"><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/">CDC</a></img></div></div></div>Madagascar is currently experiencing an outbreak of the plague, the disease once known as the Black Death, the World Health Organization <a href="http://www.who.int/csr/don/21-november-2014-plague/en/">announced recently</a>.
The first case was reported in August. As of November 19, there have been 119 cases and 40 deaths.
The plague is spread among rodent populations by fleas, who can also infect humans. <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/plague/symptoms/">Symptoms include</a> fever, chills, weakness, and swollen, painful lymph nodes. Usually, a bite from an infected flea leads to the bubonic plague, which can be treated with antibiotics. But if the bacteria enters the lungs, it can turns into pneumonic plague, a far deadlier version that can cause respiratory failure and spread person-to-person by coughing. Two percent of cases in the Madagascar outbreak have been pneumonic.
"The mortality rate depends on how soon treatment is started," the WHO notes, "but is always very high."
Of particular concern in the current outbreak is Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital and largest city, where two cases and one death have been reported already. "There is now a risk of a rapid spread of the disease due to the city's high population density and the weakness of the healthcare system," the WHO warned in <a href="http://www.who.int/csr/don/21-november-2014-plague/en/">a press release</a>, adding that the local flea population has developed a high resistance to deltamethrin, a popular insecticide.
Each year, the World Health Organization receives reports of 1,000 to 2,000 cases, a number that may underrepresent the true number of infections. "Plague epidemics have occurred in Africa, Asia, and South America," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/" target="_blank">notes</a>, "but most human cases since the 1990s have occurred in Africa."
Madagascar's <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30152979">rat-infested jails</a> have contributed to plague outbreaks there before. "An average of 500 cases have been recorded on the island every year since 2009," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/bubonic-plague-outbreak-madagascar-rats-jails">The Guardian reported last year</a>.
<h2>Plague In The US</h2>
Over the summer, the news that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-man-diagnosed-with-rare-pneumonic-plague-in-colorado-2014-09">a Colorado man was diagnosed with the plague</a> may have left some wondering: Does that still happen here?
The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is yes.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53bff845ecad04842463f3e2-1200-923/plaguemap.png" border="0" alt="plaguemap" width="800"><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/">CDC</a></img></div></div>
While the last plague epidemic in the United States was back in 1924, when <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/05/local/me-then5/2" target="_blank">37 people died in Los Angeles</a>, the much-feared disease still surfaces in Americans from time to time, though it's very infrequent - and fully treatable with antibiotics if it's caught in time.
"Plague... spread from urban rats to rural rodent species, and became entrenched in many areas of the western United States," the CDC explains. "Since that time, plague has occurred as scattered cases in rural areas."
Between 1900 and 2010, there were 999 "confirmed or probable" cases in the U.S. More than 80% of those were bubonic, where the bacteria <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/plague/symptoms/index.html" target="_blank">infects the lymph nodes</a>. (The Colorado man had the deadlier version: pneumonic plague.)
Here's a look at how many people in the US have had the plague each year since 1970 (2012 is the most recent year shown):
<div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53bff8ba69beddf34378d753-611-425/cdccasesbyyear.png" border="0" alt="cdc plague cases by year" width="800"><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/">CDC</a></img></div></div>

The Bubonic Plague Still Kills Thousands Of People Every Year

By Yoshita Singh United Nations, Jul 7 () Global outbreaks like COVID-19 will become more common and increasingly prevalent if countries do not take effective steps to curb zoonotic diseases that pass from animals to humans, a report by the UN has said. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on Monday launched the report- 'Preventing the next pandemic: Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission'. "People look back to the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 and think that such disease outbreaks only happen once in a century," head of scientific assessments at UNEP Maarten Kappelle said. "But that's no longer true. If we don't restore the balance between the natural world and the human one, these outbreaks will become increasingly prevalent," he said. UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said that as nations seek to build back better after COVID-19, "we need to fully understand the transmission of zoonoses, the threats they pose to human health and how to minimise the risk of further devastating outbreaks. "COVID-19 is one of the worst zoonotic diseases, but it is not the first. Ebola, SARS, MERS, HIV, Lyme disease, Rift Valley fever and Lassa fever preceded it. In the last century we have seen at least six major outbreaks of novel coronaviruses," she said. Zoonotic diseases are infections that jump between animals and humans, some of which have led to severe illnesses and deaths. The coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed 500,000 lives globally. It originated from a wildlife food market in China's Wuhan city. The Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or bird flu in 1996, Nipah virus infection in 1998, Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and the Swine acute diarrhoea syndrome (SADS) in 2016 all emerged in Guangdong, China, the report's data said. She said nations need to invest in ending the over-exploitation of wildlife and other natural resources, farming sustainably, reversing land degradation and protecting ecosystem health. "We were warned that the current pandemic was a matter of if, not when. It is a human failing that we predict but not prepare. Now we must become more proactive to avoid another pandemic and address endemic zoonotic diseases. This means recognising that human health, animal health and planetary health cannot be separated, and planning our responses accordingly," she said. The report said that 60 per cent of the 1,400 microbes known to infect humans originated in animals. It also noted that apart from contagions like COVID-19, neglected zoonotic diseases such as anthrax, bovine tuberculosis, rabies and Japanese encephalitis kill at least two million people every year, mostly in developing countries, which have communities with complex development problems, high dependence on livestock and proximity to wildlife. Zoonotic diseases have plagued societies since Neolithic times and were responsible for some of history's deadliest pandemics, including the bubonic plague of the late Middle Ages and the influenza pandemic of the early twentieth century. UNEP noted that as the world's population edges towards 8 billion, rampant development is putting humans and animals in increasingly close quarters, making it easier for diseases to vault between species. Andersen added that growth in humanity and its activity is largely to blame for increasing frequency of zoonotic diseases. She said meat production has increased by 260 per cent in 50 years, agriculture has intensified, infrastructure expanded and resources extracted at the expense of wild spaces. Dams, irrigation and factory farms are linked to 25 per cent of infectious diseases in humans. Travel, transport and food supply chains have erased borders and distances. Climate change has contributed to the spread of pathogens. "The end result is that people and animals, with the diseases they carry, are closer than ever," she said. Eric Fèvre, a professor of veterinary infectious diseases at the University of Liverpool and a jointly appointed ILRI researcher said, "as we exploit more marginal areas, we are creating opportunities for transmission. There is an increasing risk of seeing bigger epidemics and, eventually, a pandemic of the COVID-19 type as our footprint on the world expands." The report also noted that cost of zoonotic epidemics is steep. The International Monetary Fund has predicted that COVID-19 alone will cause the global economy to contract by 3 per cent this year, wiping out USD 9 trillion in productivity through 2021. But even in the two decades before the pandemic, the World Bank estimated that zoonotic diseases had direct costs of more than USD 100 billion. In order to prevent future outbreaks, countries need a coordinated, science-backed response to emerging zoonotic diseases, says Delia Grace, lead author of the report as well as a veterinary epidemiologist at ILRI and professor of food safety at the UK's Natural Resources Institute. UNEP and ILRI are urging governments to embrace an inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary approach called One Health. It calls on states not only to buttress their animal as well as human healthcare systems, but also to address factors - like environmental degradation and increased demand for meat – that make it easier for diseases to jump species. Co-author of the assessment and UNEP's Chief of Wildlife Doreen Robinson says it's also important for governments to better understand how zoonotic diseases work. That could help the world avoid another pandemic on the scale of COVID-19. YAS RS AKJ RS RS

Zoonotic diseases need to be curbed to prevent outbreaks like COVID-19: UN

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e34520162fa812a1926b3e3-2400/gettyimages-1197352805.jpg" alt="courier wuhan" /><ul class="summary-list"><li>As fears over the deadly coronavirus from China grow, so are racist and xenophobic incidents against Asian communities in the US, Canada, and Europe.</li><li>People of Asian descent have described to Business Insider and other outlets being discriminated at work, Costco, and a university campus.</li><li>In larger-scale incidents, customers from mainland China were banned from businesses in Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, and more than 126,000 people in Singapore called for Chinese nationals to be banned from the country. </li><li>"We tend to exist in social silos where we're surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and act like us, and we are innately suspicious of folk that we don't have contact with and we don't understand," Robert Fullilove, a professor of sociomedical sciences told Business Insider.</li><li>He also said it's "almost impossible to contain stories" of misinformation and xenophobia when news moves so quickly in the media.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China, has killed more than 304 people in less than two months after its first case.Authorities in China have quarantined more than ten cities, and the US, UK, and several other countries are quarantining all travelers who have recently visited China.Yet some of the virus' unexpected victims are those who have never even been anywhere near Wuhan.Members of the Asian diaspora living in the US, Canada, Britain, and Italy have in recent days described, to Business Insider and other outlets, multiple incidents of being racially discriminated and isolated at school, work, and other public places.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e341d9224306a6e9115da02-2400/gettyimages-1196735676.jpg" alt="Wuhan market" />Here's a roundup of apparently racist and xenophobic incidents, inflicted on Asian residents in foreign countries, in the past two weeks alone: <ul><li>An eight-year-old boy - whose mother is Korean-American, and father is a mix of ethnic backgrounds including Filipino, Mexican, Chinese, Native American, and white - wearing a face mask was told by a Costco sample-stand worker to "get away because he may be 'from China.'" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-kid-turned-away-food-samples-at-costco-2020-1">Business Insider's Sara Al-Arshani has the full story.</a></li><li>Students of east Asian descent at Arizona State University <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asian-students-asu-claim-different-treatment-because-of-wuhan-virus-2020-1">told Business Insider's Bryan Pietsch</a> their peers have started moving away from them and staring at them "a second longer" whenever they cough or sneeze.</li><li>Peter Akman, a reporter at Canada's CTV broadcaster, <a href="https://twitter.com/stephanie_ip/status/1221536862243827714">tweeted</a> an image of his Asian barber and said: "Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut." He has since deleted the post, <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterAkman/status/1221543374492225538">apologized</a>, and <a href="https://www.straight.com/news/1354031/journalist-peter-akman-no-longer-works-ctv-after-infamous-coronavirus-tweet">been fired</a>.</li><li>The director of Rome's prestigious Santa Cecilia music conservatory, Roberto Giuliani, suspended the lessons of all "oriental students (Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc.)" due to the epidemic, <a href="https://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/01/29/news/roma_conservatorio_di_santa_cecilia-247107490/?refresh_ce">La Repubblica reported</a>. Most of these students are second-generation Italian immigrants who have no relationship to the countries of origin, the newspaper said.</li><li>Le Courrier Picard, a daily regional newspaper in northern France, described the coronavirus as a "yellow alert" in a <a href="https://twitter.com/GillesKLEIN/status/1222084973638885379">front-page headline</a> last Sunday. It has since apologized, and French Asians have protested on social media under the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23JeNeSuisPasUnVirus">#JeNeSuisPasUnVirus</a> ("I am not a virus").</li><li>Sam Phan, a British-Chinese Masters student at the University of Manchester, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/27/coronavirus-panic-uk-hostile-environment-east-asians">described in The Guardian</a> overhearing people fearing going to London's Chinatown, and seeing people physically move away from them in public areas.</li><li>A woman of Cambodian origin <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2020/01/29/coronavirus-le-racisme-antiasiatique-se-propage-en-france_6027701_3244.html">told Le Monde</a> that her manager at a Paris bag store told her, "laughing: 'I hope that your family hasn't brought the virus back.'"</li><li>Frank Ye, a Chinese-Canadian student at the University of Toronto, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-jan-28-2020-1.5442819/chinese-canadians-speak-out-against-racism-misinformation-in-wake-of-coronavirus-1.5442824">told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation</a> his Asian Canadian friends had been told to move away or cover their mouths. "[It's] this idea of 'yellow peril,' of this Chinese horde coming to destroy Western civilization," he said.</li><li>Instagram users commented on a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zC8vplAo7/">photo of a Chinese restaurant</a> in Toronto, saying things like "No eating bats please!! That's how coronavirus started in China!!" and "I ain't tryna catch no virus."</li></ul>In more large-scale incidents, businesses in <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3047144/no-chinese-allowed-japanese-shop-criticised">Japan</a>, South Korea, and Vietnam have posted signs banning customers from mainland China; the hashtag #ChineseDon'tComeToJapan trended in Japan; and more than 126,000 people have signed a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/immigrations-checkpoint-authority-of-singapore-stop-china-mainlands-from-entering-singapore">Singaporean petition</a> calling for Chinese nationals to be banned from their country.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e32f6b95bc79c1ebb3689f4-1778/gettyimages-1196870321.jpg" alt="A woman walks on an empty road on January 27, 2020 in Wuhan, China." />Some of the conspiracy theories and misinformation circulating about the coronavirus also have tinges of racism and xenophobia.A video appearing to show a young Chinese woman eating a raw bat with chopsticks has gone viral in recent weeks, with thousands of social media users - and <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/coronavirus-woman-eats-whole-bat-21349468">some</a> <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7920573/Revolting-footage-shows-Chinese-woman-eating-bat-scientists-link-coronavirus-animal.html">media</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZsFHu-AaGQ">outlets</a> - claiming that the footage was taken in Wuhan, and suggesting that this is part of the normal Chinese diet.(The video was actually taken in Palau, the Pacific Island country, in 2016 and was part of an online travel show about eating unusual local delicacies. Earlier this week she <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3047683/sorry-about-tasty-bat-chinese-online-host-apologises-travel-show">apologized for eating the food</a>, saying she had "no idea during filming that there was such a virus.")The bat has since spurred multiple memes mocking what users think are Chinese eating habits, like "bats and bamboo and rats and s---," and linking them to the disease.Other misinformation surrounding the virus include theories that it can be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-coronavirus-wuhan-cure-qanon-mms-bleach-conspiracy-2020-1">cured with toxic bleach</a> or <a href="https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-wuhan-memes-social-media-is-responding-to-the-illness-2020-1">oregano oil</a>, or that it stems from a leak from China's <a href="https://twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/1220905405141913600">bioweapons program</a> or <a href="https://fullfact.org/online/wuhan-5g-coronavirus/">5G network</a>.The Wuhan coronavirus is spread from human to human, and has now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">spread to more than 20 countries</a>. It is believed to have jumped from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-sars-bats-animals-to-humans-2020-1">bats to snakes to humans</a>.The virus doesn't seem to be as deadly as the SARS coronavirus - which, at current comparison levels, had a higher mortality rate - with experts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-unnecessary-panic-experts-say-2020-1">telling Business Insider's Holly Secon</a> that global panic over the Wuhan virus is unproductive and unwarranted.<h2>Blaming 'the other'</h2>Many people of Asian descent faced <a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/opinion/2020/01/28/i-experienced-anti-chinese-racism-during-sars-but-with-coronavirus-scare-social-media-makes-it-so-much-worse.html">racist and xenophobic comments</a> during the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3047964/those-asian-people-wearing-face-masks-amid-coronavirus-fears-they-arent">SARS epidemic</a> too. SARS, like the Wuhan coronavirus, also originated from China.Robert Fullilove, a professor of sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center, told Business Insider the xenophobic fear surrounding coronarvirus is similar to the reaction toward HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, when there were no clear answers as to what caused the virus.He said at the time, people blamed anyone but themselves - or "the other" - for AIDS, which was becoming rapidly deadly in communities of Haitians, intravenous drug users, and gay men.This sort of reaction isn't new, either. It dates as far back as Bubonic Plague in the 1300s, when there were false notions that Jewish people were poisoning peoples' water to spread the infection, Fullilove said. The accusations led to the destruction of Jewish communities, and in parts of France and Switzerland, some Jews were banned from <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-well-poisoning-180971471/">consuming food and drinks meant for Christians</a>, while <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/world/middleeast/mahmoud-abbas-claims-rabbis-urged-israel-to-poison-palestinians-water.html">others were burned alive</a>."We tend to exist in social silos where we're surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and act like us, and we are innately suspicious of folk that we don't have contact with and we don't understand," he said of why xenophobic views spread in times of panic, adding that people use others as scapegoats. <img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e345f4c62fa813d56616122-2400/2020-01-30t233107z1lynxmpeg0t2bortroptp4china-health.jpg" alt="FILE PHOTO: Taxi drivers in protective suits are seen in front of a residential area, following an outbreak of the new coronavirus and the city's lockdown, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China January 28, 2020. Picture taken China Daily via REUTERS" />Fullilove said the best way to stop misinformation, especially when it comes to blaming a specific person or race, can be to make sure people have a clear idea of what's happening with the virus.Because of how quickly news spreads today on the internet, it becomes "almost impossible to contain stories" of misinformation and xenophobia, Fullilove said."Xenophobia works at its worst if people decide that the only thing they have to do is stay away from folk who are from China," he said."There will come a point when it's much more diverse in terms of who's impacted, and if we're unable to get people a clear message about what they have to do to protect themselves, not only will we not do the things that will help us stay reasonably safe, we'll also create a lot of social damage that it will be very difficult to clean up."<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e3221ce62fa814cee736a73-1773/2020-01-30t001955z1lynxmpeg0t00jrtroptp4china-health-usa.jpg" alt="Women and children walks past personnel in protective clothing after arriving on an aircraft, chartered by the U.S. State Department to evacuate government employees and other Americans from the novel coronavirus threat in the Chinese city of Wuhan, at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, U.S., January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake" />John C. Yang, president of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice civil-rights group, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/coronavirus-spreads-so-does-concern-over-xenophobia-n1125441">told NBC News</a> that when people play off stereotypes to come to conclusions about the virus, they are "going for a simplistic and completely misinformed and frankly, ignorant answer."With the coronavirus, people have focused on stereotypes about Chinese people when coming to conclusions about the virus, he said."Unfortunately, there are definitely those people that still believe that somehow, Chinese culture generally, it's backwards and foods are considered 'exotic,'" Yang told NBC News. "That certainly leads to misperception and, even worse, misinformation or disinformation about what actually happens and what is the source of the coronavirus."The stigma appears to have become so prevalent that the medical officer of Toronto Public Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, had to warn in a <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/955d-MOH-Statement_Novel-Coronavirus_29January2020.pdf">Wednesday statement</a>: "Inaccurate information continues to spread and this is creating unnecessary stigma against members of our community ... Discrimination is not acceptable."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wuhan-coronavirus-kid-turned-away-food-samples-at-costco-2020-1">A Costco sample stand worker turned away a kid wearing a face mask because she thought he was 'from China' and could give her coronavirus</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-wuhan-memes-social-media-is-responding-to-the-illness-2020-1">People are spreading memes and fake news online as the deadly coronavirus spreads across the globe</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uc-berkeley-called-out-anti-chinese-xenophobia-normal-reaction-coronavirus-2020-1">UC Berkeley is getting called out for saying anti-Chinese xenophobia is a 'normal reaction' to the coronavirus</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-wuhan-coronavirus-china-completes-emergency-hospital-eight-days-2020-2">China just completed work on the emergency hospital it set up to tackle the Wuhan coronavirus, and it took just 8 days to do it</a></li></ul><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">my friends colleague sent her this viral Instagram post about China/coronavirus (with 600k likes) and asked her "if they eat weird food where she's from in Asia" and grilled about what "weird food" she's eaten. <a href="https://t.co/C4zc0qOcAO">pic.twitter.com/C4zc0qOcAO</a>- Rossalyn Warren (@RossalynWarren) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1222806124841308160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">it's completely insane how the wuhan coronavirus hasn't generated sympathy for the victims or people most at risk but instead spiralled into racist hysterical conspiracy theories about "dirty" chinese people who eat weird food or a victim-blaming mentality. <a href="https://t.co/MSxKWkykJZ">pic.twitter.com/MSxKWkykJZ</a>- werner herzHog 🍞📈 (@post_hog) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1220492280580263938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2020</a></blockquote>

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