Hunter, 55, becomes the THIRD person in China to catch the plague after eating a wild rabbit infected with the bubonic 'Black Death'
- Plague is usually spread among mammals by fleas then transmitted to people
- If infection spreads into the lungs or bloodstream it is often fatal if untreated
- The man came from the Inner Mongolia region's Xilingol League province
- Two other people have been infected there but the cases aren't officially linked
A man who caught and ate a wild rabbit has become the third person to be struck down with the plague in China this month.
The 55-year-old was infected around two weeks ago and Chinese health authorities confirmed he was being treated for bubonic plague on Saturday.
He lives in the same area as two other plague cases also diagnosed this month – the Xilingol League province of Inner Mongolia, China.
Officials claim there is no link between the first two patients – who have pneumonic plague, a different form – and the third.
They said 28 contacts of the man who ate the rabbit had been quarantined. Meanwhile 42 of the 46 quarantined contacts of the other two patients have been released after showing no signs of illness.
Regular plague infections have been wiped out across most of the the world but there are still occasional cases reported in China. Most occur in African nations.
The infection can be fatal in as many as 90 per cent of cases if it isn't treated properly. The bubonic form is most famous for causing the Black Death which killed around a third of all European people in the Medieval era.
The man caught plague when he caught and ate a wild rabbit. The infection is usually spread by fleas and may jump to humans when they come into contact with animals or eat their meat (stock image)
The man and two other cases this month have all come from the Xilingol League province in Inner Mongolia, China. The area is about 370miles (600km) north of Beijing
Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yesinia pestis, which is most commonly spread from fleas to small mammals like rats, mice, squirrels and rabbits.
This may then spread to people if they eat the animals' meat, are bitten by a flea or come into direct contact with an infected animal or person.
The plague then attacks the immune system, causing glands in the armpits and groin to become swollen and painful, and triggers a fever and gangrene.
Chinese authorities have plague prevention teams working to monitor and stop the spread of the infection in its rural areas. Pictured is a worker labelling rats in Serxu county in the Sichuan province
People stand in line in the reception area of the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, where the first two infected patients are being treated
It may progress to pneumonic or septicaemic plague, which infects the lungs or blood and causes people to cough up or vomit blood and is almost always fatal.
A statement from the health authority in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region said that as of Saturday the man was being treated at a hospital in the city of Huade.
It said investigators found the patient from rural Xilingol League ate the rabbit on November 5.
On November 12, two patients also from Xilingol League were diagnosed with pneumonic plague in Beijing.
China has largely eradicated plague, but occasional cases are still reported, especially among hunters who come into contact with infected fleas.
The last major known outbreak was in 2009, when several people died in the town of Ziketan in Qinghai province on the Tibetan Plateau.
Across the whole world there were 3,248 plague cases diagnosed between 2010 and 2015 – 650 per year – with 584 deaths.
The infection is most common in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Peru.
Madagascar is the worst affected and tends to have cases every year during an 'epidemic season', according to the World Health Organization.
China has vastly improved its detection and management of infectious diseases since the 2003 outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, that led to 774 deaths, mostly in China and Hong Kong.
Beijing was accused of initially covering up the outbreak and dragging its feet in cooperating with the World Health Organization, allowing the disease to spread outside the country.
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