Mongolian teenager dies of bubonic plague

BEIJING (AP) — A 15-year-old boy died in western Mongolia of bubonic plague after eating an infected marmot, the country's Health Ministry said.

Two other teenagers who also ate marmot were being treated with antibiotics, ministry spokesman Narangerel Dorj said.

The government imposed a quarantine in part of Gobi-Altai province, where the cases occurred. The Health Ministry said 15 people who had contact with the deceased boy have been quarantined and are receiving antibiotics.

The plague affects marmots, large rodents that live in burrows in the vast grasslands of northern Asia, as well as some other wild animals in parts of Mongolia, northwest China and eastern China. Russia.

The Mongolian government has warned the public not to hunt or eat marmots.

In an unrelated case, the condition of a plague-infected patient in northern China's northern Inner Mongolia region is improving, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.

Xinhua said 15 people who had close contact with the patient were released from quarantine on Sunday. The agency said the government had ended its high-level emergency response.

An official statement earlier said a warning to the public in Inner Mongolia's Bayannur region to avoid eating marmots and report dead animals would last until the end of 2020.