![\"plague\"](\"http:\/\/shtfplan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/plague-1-e1508773650848.jpg\")
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Mac Slavo
\nSHTFplan.com<\/p>\n
Travelers are being warned to keep their distance from areas of Madagascar affected by the bubonic plague. As the outbreak worsens, some doctors are even warning that \u201cno one is safe\u201d from the disease.<\/p>\n
The outbreak of the\u00a0black plague in Madagascar<\/a>\u00a0has so far killed 97 people, and doctors are warning that it will be continuing to\u00a0spread and worsen, meaning no one is safe.<\/a>\u00a0Health officials say the disease,\u00a0which contributed to the deaths of more than 50 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages<\/a>, has spread from rural areas to\u00a0the more urban areas not usually affected. Hundreds of cases are reported on the tropical island every year, but experts are warning the epidemic is \u201cmuch more dangerous\u201d than in previous years.<\/p>\n Officials have reported infections in 17 of the island nation\u2019s 22 regions since the outbreak started in August. And the number of cases is growing by the day, said Elhadj As Sy, the secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)\u00a0as the nation put all hospitals on high alert.<\/a>\u00a0The hospitals have also begun implementing\u00a0preventative measures with attempts to stall the spread of the bacterial infection.<\/p>\n The IFRC said it\u2019s introducing the same \u201csafe and dignified\u201d burial methods used in West Africa during the\u00a02014 Ebola epidemic.<\/a>\u00a0This helps cut the chain of transmission by preventing further infections through direct contact with infected corpses.<\/p>\n Last week, less than 60 people had died and around 600 had been infected. Now, there are 911 confirmed cases in addition to the almost 100 deaths. While\u00a0cases of bubonic plague occur in Madagascar<\/a>\u00a0nearly every year, the much more dangerous and deadly\u00a0pneumonic plague<\/a>\u00a0has never been so prevalent. It arrived earlier than expected this year, and has become much more contagious with it being transmitted from person to person through the air. Pneumonic plague is the most life-threatening form of the infection caused\u00a0by the\u00a0manifestation of a\u00a0Yersinia pestis<\/i>\u00a0bacterial\u00a0<\/i>infection.<\/p>\n Although the black plague can be treated effectively with antibiotics, the incubation time of this bacteria is incredibly short. Death often occurs within\u00a012-24 hours of becoming infected.<\/a>\u00a0The bubonic strain of the disease is\u00a0spread through the bites of infected fleas,<\/a>\u00a0whereas the more contagious and deadly pneumonic type is spread through the coughing or sneezing of an infected person.<\/p>\n Elhadj As Sy said that overcoming the epidemic would require long-term help, not \u201cjust intervening at the peak and then forgetting about it\u201d. Dr. Manitra Rakotoarivony, Madagascar\u2019s director of health promotion, said: \u201cNormally, people who catch the plague live in poor areas, but people in every place in society are catching the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Jimmy Whitworth, professor of International Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told\u00a0The Sun<\/em><\/a>: \u201cIt has been a long time since we have seen the plague in an urban environment.<\/p>\n Although health officials have said that internationally, the threat is still fairly low,\u00a0they\u2019ve also said no one in Madagascar is safe, including travelers, spiking concerns over a possible global pandemic.<\/p>\n