Ulan Bator, Aug 26 : Mongolia's Ecological Police Department on Tuesday issued a bubonic plague warning amid fear of the spread of this disease in Ulan Bator.

The warning came after 22 dead marmots were discovered and seized by police last week from a vehicle travelling from western provinces to the capital city of Ulan Bator.

Currently, relevant officials of the country, including police officers and inspectors, are working 24 hours at all checkpoints on the outskirts of Mongolia's capital to prevent the spread of bubonic plague

A total of 137 soums (administrative subdivisions) of 17 provinces in Mongolia are now risk areas of bubonic plague, according to the country's National Centre for Zoonotic Diseases, Xinhua news agency reported.

The bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots, which can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization.

Bubonic plague is an infection spread mostly to humans by infected fleas that travel on rodents. Called the Black Death, it killed millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages. Prevention involves reducing your exposure to mice, rats, squirrels and other animals that may be infected.

Bubonic plague deaths exceeded 25 million people during the fourteenth century. This was about two-thirds of the population in Europe at the time. Rats travelled on ships and brought fleas and plague with them. Because most people who got the plague died, and many often had blackened tissue due to gangrene, bubonic plague was called the Black Death. A cure for bubonic plague wasn't available.

There have been other episodes of bubonic plague in world history apart from the Black Death years (1346-1353). Bubonic plague still occurs throughout the world and in the US, with cases in Africa, Asia, South America and the western areas of North America. About seven cases of plague happen in the US every year on average. Half of the US cases involve people aged 12 to 45 years.

/IANS