Terror in Russian town as boy is struck down with BUBONIC PLAGUE
THOUSANDS of Russians are being given emergency vaccinations against the Bubonic Plague after a boy contracted the deadly infectious disease while skinning a marmot.
Vaccine is being rushed to remote Kosh-Agach in the Altai Mountains in a bid to stop a full scale ou
Kosh-Agach is located in the south and southeast of the republic
The Russian authorities have taken all 17 people with whom he had contact into quarantine.
Six of this 'at risk' group are children.
At least 4,000 residents in the region will be urgently vaccinated as a precaution, said reports.
Emergency vaccine for at least 15,000 people was ordered and has started arriving in the region in southern Siberia.
The Russian authorities have taken all 17 people with whom he had contact into quarantine
A total of 6,192 people in this district had been vaccinated prior to the outbreak in what is considered a high risk locality.
Marmot hunting is banned here because of the threat of the plague, but the restrictions are widely ignored.
Marmot furs are sold as a cheap substitute for sable, and the animal is known to carry the disease, reported The Siberian Times.
According to the World Health Organisation, more than 13,000 people contracted bubonic plague in Asia, Africa and America between 2004 and 2013. Roughly 900 of them died from the disease.
Bubonic plague was the cause of the Black Death that swept through Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th century, killing an estimated 50 million people.
Kosh-Agach in the Altai Mountains is home to fewer than 20,000 people