Resurgence of Bubonic Plague Putting Young Lives at Risk in DR Congo: UNICEF

Ituri: A resurgence of Bubonic plague in Ituri province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is putting young lives at risk, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has warned.
 
Poverty, conflict and displacement are contributing to the return of the centuries-old illness for the first time in more than a decade, and new research supported by the agency revealed children are especially vulnerable.   
 
The research focused on three health zones in Ituri, where more than 490 cases were recorded between 2020 and 2021, with 20 fatalities. 

Some 578 cases, and 44 plague-related deaths, occurred throughout the entire province during the same period. 
 
"The really worrying thing here is that we’ve got plague reported in areas which had not seen a case for more than 15 years, and many more cases in areas where they had very few or none previously," said Izzy Scott Moncrieff, UNICEF Social Sciences Analytics Cell (CASS) Field Supervisor, in a press release on Tuesday.  
 
"There are grave consequences for children because they are more exposed to the risk factors of plague," Scott added.
 
Bubonic plague, also known as black death, is an infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria, which is usually found in small mammals and their fleas.  It is characterized by painful swollen lymph nodes called buboes. 
 
Outbreaks are often blamed on poor sanitation and hygiene practices which attract rats carrying fleas, searching for food, who infect people in their homes.  
 
While the disease can be fatal, it is easily treatable with antibiotics. 
 
The DRC, specifically Ituri, as well as Madagascar and Peru, are the only places worldwide where cases continue to be reported. 
 
UNICEF said the current outbreak there differs from previous ones because both bubonic plague and the highly infectious pneumonic form of plague, which is transmitted from person to person through the air, have been reported in areas previously free of the disease.  
 
These areas are in the east of Ituri province, near the border with South Sudan and Uganda. 
 
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