Antananarivo — An outbreak of highly contagious pneumonic and bubonic plagues has claimed 30 lives in the impoverished Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar over the past two months. "We have recorded 194 suspected cases of plague, including 30 deaths," health official Manitra Rakotoarivony said in a statement on Wednesday. Seven of the deaths occurred in the capital, Antananarivo, where 43 people are suspected of having contracted the disease, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The outbreak started on August 23 after the death of a 31-year-old man in the country’s Central Highlands region, a plague-endemic area, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The outbreak combines bubonic plague, which is spread by infected rats via flea bites, and pneumonic plague, spread from person to person. Pneumonic plague can kill quickly if left untreated — within 18 to 24 hours of infection — but can be cured by early use of antibiotics. Madagascar has a history of plague ...
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