Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2020 Dec;9(1):1878-1880.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1807412.

Two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs

Jan Kehrmann  1 , Walter Popp  2   3 , Battumur Delgermaa  4 , Damdin Otgonbayar  4 , Tsagaan Gantumur  5 , Jan Buer  1 , Nyamdorj Tsogbadrakh  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs

Jan Kehrmann et al. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Marmots are an important reservoir of Yersinia pestis and a source of human plague in Mongolia. We present two fatal cases of plague after consumption of raw marmot organs and discuss the distribution of natural foci of Y. pestis in Mongolia.

Keywords: Mongolia; Plague; epidemiology; marmot; sepsis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A. Geographic distribution of natural foci of plague in Mongolia as assessed from 2012 to 2019. Categorization of prevalence took into account the extent and continuity of Y. pestis infection of small rodents in various regions of Mongolia over the past eight years. For each aimag (province), a minimum of 80–100 small rodents and fleas associated with the rodents in an area 100–120 kilometres square were examined annually with serologic tests (F1-antigen and plague specific antibody test) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Positive samples were subjected to bacteriologic culture. B. Picture of Marmota sibirica. C and D. Preparation of traditional marmot boodog: Burning furs with flame (C) and cooked marmot boodog (D).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Perry RD, Fetherston JD.. Yersinia pestis–etiologic agent of plague[Historical Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. Review]. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1997 Jan;10(1):35–66. doi: 10.1128/CMR.10.1.35 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ben-Ari T, Neerinckx S, Gage KL, et al. . Plague and climate: scales matter [Review]. PLoS Pathog. 2011 Sep;7(9):e1002160. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002160 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Galdan B, Baatar U, Molotov B, et al. . Plague in Mongolia [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't]. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2010 Jan-Feb;10(1):69–75. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2009.0047 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Riehm JM, Tserennorov D, Kiefer D, et al. . Yersinia pestis in small rodents, Mongolia [Letter]. Emerging Infect. Dis.. 2011 Jul;17(7):1320–1322. doi: 10.3201/eid1707.100740 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Christie AB, Chen TH, Elberg SS.. Plague in camels and goats: their role in human epidemics [Case reports]. J Infect Dis. 1980 Jun;141(6):724–726. doi: 10.1093/infdis/141.6.724 - DOI - PubMed

Substances