As if a global pandemic of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 weren't enough, Gizmodo reports the bubonic plague has reared its nasty head once again.
Sunday, officials from Inner Mongolia revealed a shepherd has been diagnosed with bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death.
At the same time, a second case has been identified in neighboring Mongolia. Both patients had had contact with a wild marmot, and both are recovering.
In the region, subsistence hunting is common. Marmots and other rodents are thought to be a source of the plague, which they pass on to fleas.
If caught early enough, the bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics.
These alarming incidents follow two reports of pneumonic plague, also in Inner Mongolia, from November, and two deaths last May due to bubonic plague.
Both are caused by the same strain of bacteria, but the pneumonic plague is able to spread from person to person.