Plagues+and+Diseases

Plagues and Diseases Back • Plague occurred in Russia in 1877–1889 in rural areas near the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea • Efforts in hygiene and patient isolation reduced the spread of the disease, with approximately 420 deaths in the region. • The region of Vetlianka in this area is near a population of the bobak marmot, a small rodent considered a very dangerous plague reservoir. • Last significant Russian outbreak of Plague was in Siberia in 1910 after sudden demand for Marmot skins (a substitute for Sable) increased the price by 400 percent. • Traditional hunters would not hunt a sick Marmot and it was taboo to eat the fat from under the arm (the axillary lymphatic gland that hosted the plague). • Outbreaks tended to be confined to single individuals. • Price increase attracted thousands of Chinese hunters from Manchuria who not only caught the sick animals but also ate the fat, which was considered a delicacy. • Plague spread from the hunting grounds to the terminus of the Chinese Eastern Railway and then followed the track for 2,700 km. • The plague lasted 7 months and killed 60,000 people.