Can any mice at home be infected with plague？ Not in the epidemic area is generally not risky.

　　On the evening of November 12, the Health and Health Committee of Xilin Gol League in Inner Mongolia and the Health and Health Committee of Chaoyang District in Beijing jointly announced that on November 12, two people in Sunite Zuoqi of Xilin Gol League in Inner Mongolia were diagnosed as confirmed cases of pneumonic plague through expert consultation. At present, the patient has been properly treated in relevant medical institutions in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and relevant prevention and control measures have been implemented. According to Health News, an industry newspaper in charge of National Health Commission, National Health Commission Emergency Office has arranged state-level experts to go to Inner Mongolia to guide the local tracing work and find out the source of infection and the route of transmission.

　　Once the news was released, it caused widespread concern. Many citizens are worried: if there are mice at home, will they be infected with plague? The Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention answered this question on the official WeChat WeChat official account: If you are not in an epidemic area, there is generally little risk of infection, so citizens need not worry too much.

　　There are no follow-up cases at present.

　　"In addition to these two patients, there are no follow-up cases." Feng Zijian, deputy director of China CDC, told the media.

　　Plague is a severe infectious disease, which is a special zoonotic disease in which rodents and fleas transmit Yersinia pestis to humans and animals. In China, plague is a Class A infectious disease stipulated in the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (there are only two Class A infectious diseases in China, and the other is cholera).

　　The incubation period of plague is generally 1 to 6 days, and individual cases can reach 8 to 9 days. After being infected with Yersinia pestis, it can be clinically manifested as bubonic plague, pneumonic plague and septicemia plague. Bubonic plague is the most common, which usually manifests as fever and local lymph node enlargement, and the cure rate is high; Pneumonic plague is often characterized by high fever, cough, chest tightness, dyspnea and hemoptysis. Due to the urgent onset, the disease progresses rapidly, and if it is not treated in time, the mortality rate is high. The symptoms of septicemia plague are also serious and the prognosis is poor.

　　The host animals carrying Yersinia pestis are mainly rodents such as rats and marmots. In the north of China, Citellus and Marmota are the main species, while Rattus flavipectus and Rattus norvegicus are the main species in the south. Beijing is not a natural focus, and Yersinia pestis does not exist in the natural environment and rodents.

　　Plague cases are very rare

　　In history, there have been three worldwide pandemics of plague, which was once called the "Black Death", causing serious losses to human life and health. Before the founding of New China, the plague epidemic in China was also very serious. After the founding of New China, the Chinese government attached great importance to the prevention and control of plague, and the number of cases dropped significantly. At present, plague is very rare in China, but it has not disappeared. There are cases of plague in Gansu, Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

　　In Guangdong, from 1866 to 1952, plague was prevalent for 87 years, affecting 69 counties in the whole province (including Hainan Island and Beihai and Qinzhou, which are now Guangxi), with more than 486,000 deaths. Since 1953, no plague cases have been reported in Guangdong province, and great achievements have been made in plague prevention and control, and it has been resting for more than 66 years by 2019. However, with the increasing frequency of tourism and business exchanges, there is still the risk of imported cases.

　　The general risk of infection is not great.

　　However, the public need not panic. Plague is an ancient bacterial infectious disease and can be treated with a variety of effective antibiotics in clinic. If patients can see a doctor early and get standardized and effective treatment, the cure rate is very high. Suspicious contacts can also avoid getting sick by taking preventive medicine.

　　Many citizens are worried that if there are rats in my house, will they be infected with the plague? In fact, mice usually need rat fleas as a medium to infect humans, and direct contact with infected mice also has the opportunity to be infected. If you are not in an epidemic area, the risk of infection is generally small, so don’t worry too much. However, if there are more mice in the house, it will cause some other diseases such as epidemic hemorrhagic fever. It is suggested to do indoor hygiene and eliminate mice.

　　In addition, if citizens suddenly develop fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes or dyspnea, cough and/or bloody sputum, they should seek medical treatment immediately (people who have traveled in plague-endemic areas should inform medical staff of their travel history). Self-medication, including the use of antibiotics, should be avoided unless diagnosed by medical personnel.

　　interlinkage

　　1. What are the main routes of transmission?

　　The main transmission routes of plague include vector transmission, contact transmission and droplet transmission. In natural foci, vector transmission is the most important mode of transmission, and fleas are the main media for spreading plague. Fleas parasitic on infected animals can cause human infection after being infected with plague bacteria and then biting people. Contact transmission refers to the infection caused by bacteria entering the body through skin surface wounds or mucous membranes when people come into contact with infected animals during slaughter, skinning and meat eating, or when they come into contact with excreta and secretions of plague patients. In addition, the respiratory secretions of patients with pneumonic plague contain a large number of Yersinia pestis, and the germs released by patients during breathing and coughing can form droplets and suspend in the air for a short time, which can also cause infection when others inhale.

　　2. How to do personal protection?

　　Good personal hygiene habits are the most effective measures to prevent various infectious diseases, including plague. At present, Beijing residents don’t need to take special personal protective measures, but they should maintain good personal hygiene habits, such as washing their hands frequently, trying to avoid going to crowded places, and wearing masks in time when going to medical institutions or individuals with fever, cough and other related symptoms.

　　If you suspect that you have had contact with the case, you can go to self-observation, or take the initiative to report to the local disease control department and get professional guidance. Once you have symptoms such as fever and cough, you should seek medical advice in time.

　　When traveling, minimize contact with wild animals, do not tease marmots with unknown health, prevent flea bites, reduce body exposure by using repellent, avoid being bitten by fleas, and do not hunt and eat wild animals without permission. (Yangcheng Evening News reporter Fu Changfeng Xixi correspondent Yue Kangxin)