Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Plague Central

Not surprisingly, the WHO reports on an outbreak of pneumonic plague in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Ituri is known to be the most active focus of human plague worldwide, reporting around 1000 cases a year. The first cases in this outbreak occurred in a rural area, in the Zone de Santé of Linga, in mid-May.


Pneumonic plague, while apparently common during the Black Death (1347-51), has been rare in later outbreaks. Thanks to an anonymous source for the tip.

Bonus link: See Snopes debunk "Ring Around the Rosie."

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