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Mongolia fears a pandemic after the death of two Russian tourists from a highly contagious disease, suspected by the authorities to be bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death.
The medical staff donned an anti-spam suit and boarded a plane to land in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, to intercept passengers from the affected area. Eleven passengers were put under "Undetermined Quarantine" in a nearby hospital.
"The results of the preliminary tests show that bubonic plague probably caused the death of both people", said the Mongolian National Emergency Management Agency. "The provincial office has declared an unlimited quarantine" in the province of Bayan-Ulgii.
The authorities believe that tourists, a husband and a woman visiting Siberia, were contaminated after eating contaminated wild game, and estimate that the couple had contact with some 158 people before their deaths. They too have been quarantined.
The male tourist, whose name appears in "Citizen T", succumbed to extreme illness on April 27, when his pregnant wife died three days later.
The probable source of the disease? marmots
Marmots are known to carry one of the deadliest forms of the plague bacterium, which could be transmitted to humans either by parasitic fleas or by the consumption of meat of the animal.
"Although the prohibition to eat marmots is forbidden, Citizen T has chased the groundhog," Dr. N. Tsogbadrakh, Director of the National Center for Dermatology and Zoonotic Medicine. "He ate the meat and gave it to his wife, and they died."
The couple left four orphaned children.
The border closure has left some nine Russian tourists trapped in the country, prompting them to seek help from the Russian consulate. A Russian border official said the closures were linked to the May holidays and the crossing points would reopen on May 5th.
The Black Death wiped out a third of the European population in the Middle Ages, but the disease can now be treated with antibiotics. Every year, an average of seven Americans are infected with the plague, but thanks to advances in medicine, death rates have dropped considerably. Without medication, however, the disease can kill in less than 24 hours.
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