Plague Warning for Tourists Planning Holiday in Madagascar

The World Health Organization has sent warning to travellers and tourists planning a trip to Madagascar on the rapidly spreading Plague disease in the region. The dense population of the city and inadequate health care system is the reason for the fast spread of the disease.

The epidemic has broken out according to the World Health Organization with 40 people dead and 119 sick in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar.

Plague can however be treated by antibodies. The bacterial nature of plague sets it apart from virus-caused diseases such as Ebola, for which there is no known direct cure.

There are measures being taken to clean the city with modern sanitation methods and use of insecticides.

Being an impoverished island 22 miles in the Indian Ocean, 250 miles off the southeast coast of Africa, the methods of sanitation are primitive; neither are the health care systems fully functional nor are the medicines well distributed in this region.

WHO has set a special task force to stop the plague outbreak. The project is expected to cost $200,000.

Plague occurs regularly in Madagascar with 600 cases reported each year. The disease is carried and spread by fleas that live on the bodies of rats, modern sanitation and use of insecticides has made the plague a rarity in the modern world.

Source: Travel & Tour World