In addition to the swine flu that’s still causing concern for health officials in China, we now have another unpleasant addition to the scene - plague:
Thousands of people have been placed in quarantine in north-western China after a man died of pneumonic plague.
Chinese authorities say the man who died was a 32-year-old herdsman from a sparsely populated area mostly inhabited by Tibetans.
Most of the other 11 people infected with the disease are relatives of the dead man.
This is the first case of plague that comes to mind since the ‘94 outbreak in western India.
This episode also points to the terrible health and sanitation conditions in western China, especially in Tibetan and Uyghur areas.
