UK Warns Against Travel to Mongolia Over Bubonic Plague

The United Kingdom on Tuesday warned against travel to China's Inner Mongolia region after a 15-year-old boy died from the bubonic plague there.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) warned "against all but essential international travel" to Mongolia and suggested travelers avoid marmot meat and "take precautionary actions on bubonic plague."

Marmot – a rodent believed to be the source of the highly infectious disease – was consumed by the teenager in recent days.

"The meat is a delicacy in some rural areas although it is illegal to hunt for marmot in Mongolia," the FCO said.

Earlier this month, two cases of bubonic plague were registered in Khovd province. More than 140 people were tested, but no other cases were found. A herdsman also contracted the plague in Mongolia, prompting local authorities to ban until the end of the year the hunting and eating of animals that could carry the disease.

Symptoms of the plague include a sudden high fever, chills, headache, and nausea.

A squirrel in Colorado has tested positive for the bubonic plague, and health officials warned it is possible for humans to be infected with the disease through bites from infected fleas and through direct contact with blood or tissues of infected animals such a bite.

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