Captured on July 15, 2014, Chinese Field Epidemiology Training Program (CFETP) resident, Chaoxue Wu, is show here investigating the Himalayan marmot, Marmota himalayana, population, in order to determine the density of enzootic plague amongst marmots in Batang, Sichuan, China. The Himalayan marmot is a natural host for the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, which affects humans, and other mammals.
The FETP trains workers on the ground to help countries build sustainable capacity for detecting and responding to health threats. The program develops in-country expertise so that disease outbreaks can be detected locally and prevented from spreading.
For more on the FETP, or plague, see the links below.
Humans usually get plague after being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium, or by handling an animal infected with plague. “Plague is infamous for killing millions of people in Europe during the Middle Ages. Today, modern antibiotics are effective in treating plague. Without prompt treatment, the disease can cause serious illness or death. Presently, human plague infections continue to occur in the western United States, but significantly more cases occur in parts of Africa and Asia.” See the link below, for more information on plague, or the FETP.