Mass vaccinations ordered in Russia after boy is struck down by horrific disease that wiped out half of Europe
Jabs are being rushed out in a bid to stop a full-scale outbreak of the Black Death infection that killed around 50million people in the 14th Century
THOUSANDS of Russians are being given emergency vaccinations against the Bubonic plague after a boy contracted the deadly disease that once wiped out half of Europe.
Jabs are being rushed to the area in a bid to stop a full-scale outbreak of the Black Death infection.
The ten-year-old boy was helping his grandfather on a hunting expedition when he caught the plague while skinning a marmot in the remote Kosh-Agach in the Altai Mountains.
The unnamed child cut himself with the knife he was using and is now fighting for his life in intensive care with a high fever.
Today he was in a 'serious but stable' condition.
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The Russian authorities have taken all 17 people with whom he had contact into quarantine.
Six of this 'at risk' group are children.
At least 4,000 residents in the region will be urgently vaccinated as a precaution, said reports.
Emergency vaccine for at least 15,000 people was ordered and has started arriving in the region in southern Siberia.
A total of 6,192 people in this district had been vaccinated prior to the outbreak in what is considered a high risk locality.
Marmot hunting is banned here because of the threat of the plague, but the restrictions are widely ignored.
Marmot furs are sold as a cheap substitute for sable, and the animal is known to carry the disease, reported .
According to the World Health Organisation, more than 13,000 people contracted bubonic plague in Asia, Africa and America between 2004 and 2013. Roughly 900 of them died from the disease.
Bubonic plague was the cause of the Black Death that swept through Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th century, killing an estimated 50 million people, around half the European population at the time.
Black Death disease that wiped out half of Europe
The Bubonic plague was responsible for the Black Death, a devastating epidemic that swept across the world in the 14th Century.
In just seven years, it killed around 50million people, around half the population of Europe.
However some estimates suggest the figure could be as high as 200million in what is considered the greatest human catastrophe ever recorded.
Within a few days of exposure to the bacterial infection, sufferers develop flu-like symptoms, weakness and swollen lymph glands known as buboes - hence the name.
It can also lead to gangrene (tissue death) in the fingers, toes and nose.
The disease has a high fatality rate - around half - if not treated.
But the earlier antibiotics are given the better the chance of survival.