Five cases of pneumonic plague, including one death, were recently identified in Nyingchi prefecture located in Tibet’s southwestern region. Tibet’s health department has announced that anyone who visited Nyingchi after September 18th should seek medical care, especially those displaying flu-like symptoms common to plague. The Chinese government currently reports the outbreak to be controlled and close contacts of the victims have been quarantined, although the source is still unknown. Plague is endemic in Tibet and commonly transmitted via flea-carrying rodents such as the region’s widely-prevalent marmot. The previous pneumonic plague outbreak in Tibet occurred in September 2008 where two people died.
