Near the end of 2019, I predicted China would ring in 2020 (the Year of the Rat, on China's calendar) with an outbreak of Bubonic Plague. For some time they seemed determined to prove me right. Fortunately for China, the rats were denied their chance.
...Because a disease that broke out of a Wuhan lab left people huddling in their homes, and left the rats outside. The rats managed to cause a few other diseases, including one scare with Hantavirus back in March (IANS). Of course, authorities were quick to assure us Hantavirus cannot spread from Human to Human (Schelden)... You know, just like the WHO assured us Covid-19 couldn't, because China said so (World Health Organization). Right?
So no worries. Hantavirus can't spread from Humans to Humans. Except when it does (Macready; Makrotic).
But since Hantavirus didn't seem ready to mutate into a new, spittle-borne superform just yet (and 2020 grins wolfishly and says "there are still 4 months to go"), the rats switched to a new rodent-borne disease. Introducing, Hepatitis-E. Hepatitis-E is nothing new in Humans, but in Hong Kong since 2018, and more frequently this year, the rodent strain is finding its way into Human bloodstreams, and nobody seems to know just how (Yeung).
Then again, rats aren't the only contestant on "who wants to be the source of China's next killer plague (Vox)." Far from lacking in outbreaks, the year 2020 has seen the world's premier source of pandemics battling Avian Flu in May (Carlson), Tick-borne STFS (Times of India Staff), and Dengue Fever (Laguipo) -which, being mosquito-borne, could get REALLY out of hand considering mosquitoes will absolutely thrive in the floods that are raging across huge swaths of China right now (He).
And of course, when discussing potential Human pandemics that are (for the moment) contenting themselves with destroying China's already vulnerable food supply, we would be remiss if we didn't give a nod to the shiny new strain of swine flu the Chinese have discovered (not to be confused with African Swine Fever, which they were already battling (Shapiro)). The new strain contains genomic data from both the Human and Pig strains of swine flu (Jenco)!
Hmm... almost as if it was engineered in a lab...
But as the Year of the Rat enters into its 8th month, it seems that the plague that ends up rocking China might, just might, be the very plague I predicted in the first place. In mid July, a 15 year old boy in Mongolia died from the Bubonic Plague (McLoughlin (1)). Of course, that's Mongolia, and contrary to what most Chinese think (Quora), Mongolia is NOT, in fact, part of China, but Mongolia (a sovereign state) and Inner Mongolia (a part of Mongolia under Han Occupation that has been reduced to a Chinese province) share a long border.
And of course, it was not even a week before the disease was confirmed in China (Ferguson), which should come as no surprise since China is the source of the bacteria that causes Black Plague. Of course, unlike the late 2019 outbreak, which China played off as a minor affair, this time the Chinese quarantined entire villages. I guess when you are already calloused from welding people people's homes shut (Brown; Paco; Stow; TomoNewsUS) and locking down entire cities (Weinland), this is no big deal.
Well, it may be no big deal, but it made no big difference either. As the month of August unfolds, Inner Mongolia (which has a border that is spitting distance from Beijing) has seen another village locked down due a death from the plague (McLoughlin(2)).
And then another (McGleenon).
Anyone else starting to hear a bass beat and Freddy Mercury's voice in the background here?
Of course, I'm probably blowing this out of proportion. I mean, it's just a few people, in a small corner of China, dying from a respiratory plague, right? I'm sure the Chinese government has everything under control, right? And besides, the World Health Organization has assured us the danger of an outbreak is minimal (Withers). And after all, look what a wonderful track record the World Health Organization has so far in 2020. I mean, it's not like Tedros would lie to help his boss in Beijing cover up a deadly outbreak, just so China could save face.
...Right?
Works Cited
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Carlson, Robert. "Bird-Flu Outbreak Confirmed in China." Vax Before Travel. 29 May, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.vaxbeforetravel.com/shandong-province-china-travel-alert-raised-level-2-regarding-influenza-h9n2-cases
Ferguson, Emily. "Bubonic Plague Crisis: Dozens Forced Into Quarantine as Disease Confirmed in China." Express. 8 July, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1306344/Bubonic-Plague-china-news-outbreak-inner-mongolia-fever-who
IANS. "Hantavirus, a Virus Spread by Rodents, Kills Man in China." Weather.com. 24 Mar, 2020. Web. 10 Aug, 2020. https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2020-03-24-hantavirus-virus-spread-rodents-kills-man-china
He, Laura. "'Everything is Gone.' Flooding in China Ruins Farmers and Risks Rising Food Prices." CNN. 8 Aug, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/08/economy/china-food-economy-flooding-intl-hnk/index.html
Jenco, Melissa. "CDC: New Swine Flu Strain in China a ‘Potential Pandemic Concern’." AAP News. 8 Jul, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/07/08/swineflu070820
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McLoughlin, Bill (2). "China bubonic plague: Beijing seals off village as panicked experts confirm black death." Express. 7 Aug, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. "https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1319783/China-bubonic-plague-latest-black-death-victim-inner-mongolia-lockdown-Suji-Xincun
McGleenon, Brian. "China bubonic plague spreads: Beijing orders second lockdown after new horror death." Express. 11 Aug, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1320540/china-bubonic-plague-news-lockdown-village-bayannur-inner-mongolia-rats
Paco. "Two videos show all floors of a residential building in Jiangsu-China were blocked by welding fence because a confirmed case found in it. #2019nCoV #WuhanCoronavirus #WuhanVirus." 7:60 AM, 29 Jan, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. Twitter
Quora. What do People of China Think About Mongolia?" https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-of-China-think-about-Mongolia
Schelden, Peter. "Hantavirus Death in China: How Likely Is a Coronavirus-Like Pandemic?" MedicineNet. 25 Mar. 2020. Web. 10 Aug. 2020. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=229363
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Weinland, Don. "Inside Wuhan: China’s struggle to control the virus — and the narrative." Financial Times. 22 Apr, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.ft.com/content/61ec68d8-8432-11ea-b872-8db45d5f6714
Withers, Paul. "Bubonic Plague: WHO dealt huge blow hours after claiming outbreak 'not high-risk'." Express. 7 Jul, 2020. Web. 11 Aug, 2020. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1306207/bubonic-plague-china-world-health-organisation-coronavirus-latest-airborne-transmission
World Health Organization. "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China🇨🇳." 14 Jan, 2020, 5:18 AM. Twitter.
Yeung, Jessie. "Rats are Infecting Humans with Hepatitis, and Nobody Knows How." CNN. 8 May, 2020. Web. 10 Aug, 2020. https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/08/health/hong-kong-rat-hepatitis-intl-hnk-scn/index.html*