Madagascar: Plague outbreak kills 24 – IOTW Report

Madagascar: Plague outbreak kills 24

The government said one girl among the dead had apparently been involved in a ceremony retrieving the bodies of deceased family members,
re-wrapping their remains and dancing with the corpses.

  more here

 

SNIP: What century are these superstitious imbeciles living in?

25 Comments on Madagascar: Plague outbreak kills 24

  1. They get the plague every year. WTF?
    There are areas that look really decent. Former French colony and what not, so the architecture is nice. But man, modern day architecture and stone age inhabitants on the same island.

  2. Plague is endemic throughout the Americas, including the US. A few people in the US contract bubonic plague each year, mostly in the West. Pneumonic plague is much rarer and much more lethal. It is the same bug, just different vectors.

    Poor hygiene and health services, compounded by ignorance, make for a dangerous combination when dealing with pneumonic plague.

    What is frightening is that there are probably no travel restrictions for people flying from Madagascar to Europe or the US. Ignorance is one thing, but willful ignorance is unforgivable.

  3. The culture there is a mix of Indonesian, African, Polynesian and French. One of their odd customs is to dissenter their dead, rewrap and entertain them. Nice to honor the relatives but certainly not sanitary.
    I remember some of this from an old National Geographic or some such show I watched as a kid.

  4. The plague in Europe in the 14C evolved as it spread. Once it went pneumonic (airborne person to person like the common cold, no rat bite or flea bites required) it really took off.
    Incubation time from first symptoms to death went from 6 weeks to 24 hours.

    “The international Airlines were the perfect transmission network.” –World War Z.

    Eventually something deadly and airborne will make its way into the global airlines mainstream. And suddenly it will be the 14th C. all over again.

  5. On Okinawa the ceremony is called the Oban Festival that happens once a year. There are no sealed Graves on Okinawa, they take out the bones of their deceased ancestors, clean them off and put them back in until next year.
    It is not really a place you’d like to visit or live.

  6. Yersinia pestis (plague), can be spread by contact with infected bodily fluids or tissue. The bacteria can remain active for quite some time after the death of the host. If you breath in aerosalized droplets, you get pneumonic plague and you can infect those around you when you cough or sneeze.

    Many pathogens become much more infectious and virulent once they are established in bodily fluids.

    Stay clear of dead animals, especially in areas known to be endemic for plague and other diseases like tuleremia, etc. Also, just to get your angst up, things that have become covered in infected bodily fluids, dry or wet, can transfer the pathogen to you by contact or as aerosalized particles. Hantavirus is a good example of that sort of transmission. Q-fever is another one, commonly transferred through parturient sheep, goats and cats, as well as all other bodily fluids — animal and human.

    Pleasant dreams everyone.

  7. yep, reboot and ACParker!

    Never run over a dead animal with the mower, rabbits are hard to see. The mower will transfer the pathogen to you by contact or as aerosalized particles.

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