Photograph by H. Zell
A deadly outbreak of bubonic plague has left twenty people dead in a village near Mandritsara in north-western Madagascar.
The Pasteur Institute of Madagascar has confirmed on Tuesday that bubonic plague was found in autopsies of the bodies from the village last week.
The most recent outbreak follows a warning from the International Committee of the Red Cross in October, where they said that Madagascar was at risk of a plague epidemic.
The disease, known as the Black Death in Europe after it killed an estimated 25 million people throughout the Middle Ages in a number of widespread outbreaks, is spread by fleas most commonly found on rats. It is most quickly spread when people are living in close proximity to such rodents, with prisoners in Madagascar’s prisons particularly at risk.
Christoph Vogt, head of the ICRC delegation in Madagascar described the situation in October, saying:
The chronic overcrowding and the unhygienic conditions in prisons can bring on new cases of the disease. That’s dangerous not only for the inmates but also for the population in general.
Rat control is essential for preventing the plague, because rodents spread the bacillus to fleas that can then infect humans. So the relatives of a detainee can pick up the disease on a visit to the prison. And a released detainee returning to his community without having been treated can also spread the disease.
Madagascar had 60 recorded deaths from the plague in 2012, out of a total 256 recorded cases around the world in 2012.
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