Pneumonic Plague Outbreak In China Claims Second Victim

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A second death has been reported in a pneumonic plague outbreak in a town in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai.

The official Xinhua state news agency said the 37-year-old male victim was a neighbor of the first person who died, a 32-year old herdsman, the Associated Press reported. Another 10 people, mostly relatives of the first victim, are infected with the highly contagious deadly lung disease and undergoing treatment.

The local health bureau said the town of Ziketan has been sealed off and a team of experts sent to the area.

The measures taken so far to treat and quarantine infected people are appropriate, said World Health Organization officials in China, the AP reported.

Pneumonic plague, one of the deadliest infectious diseases, is spread through the air and can be transmitted through coughing, according to the WHO. People can die within 24 hours of infection.