article out of the us on pandemic flu, page-2

Weird how the plaque occurs in the same place as the bird flu

Are you not scared its coming to get you too?

Naturally Occurring Plague Worldwide

Natural enzootic foci of plague (and, therefore, areas with the highest incidence of human disease) include the following countries or regions (see References: CDC: Information on plague; WHO: Report on global surveillance 2000):

* Madagascar
* Eastern and southern Africa (eg, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana)
* Southeast Asia (particularly Vietnam and Myanmar)
* Pockets in South America (including areas in the Andean mountain regions of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador and in northeastern Brazil)
* The western United States
* Mongolia and northern China
* Russia (the area of the Caucasus Mountains) and central Asia into the Middle East

Between 1954 and 1997, 38 countries reported cases of human plague to the World Health Organization (WHO) (see References: WHO: Report on global surveillance 2000). No plague cases have been reported from Europe since shortly after World War II and no cases have been reported from Australia. Overall, 80,613 cases were reported, with a mean of 1,832 cases per year (range, 200 to 6,004 cases).

* The overall average case-fatality rate among reported cases was 11.8%.
* Seven countries reported cases of plague for each of the 44 years: Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Myanmar, Peru, the United States, and Vietnam.
* Large outbreaks occurred in Vietnam (from 1966 through 1972), India (1954, 1963, and 1994), Tanzania (1990 through 1992), and Madagascar (1994 through 1996).
* The 1994 outbreak in India included cases of pneumonic plague and raised concerns about the spread of pneumonic plague to other areas of the world through airline travel (See References: Campbell 1995, Titball 1998).
* In 1997, a localized outbreak of pneumonic plague involving 18 patients occurred in Madagascar; most of the patients had exposure to a traditional healer who died of the disease after treating the index patient (see References: Ratsitorahina 2000).