An unusual outbreak of plague pneumonia is occurring in widespread areas of Madagascar, including in heavily populated cities of Antananarivo (the capital city and its suburbs) and Toamasina.

From 1 August through 23 October, 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 1,365 possible cases of plague in Madagascar. Of the total possible cases, 16% are confirmed cases of plague. Approximately 8% of those with possible plague have died. Health authorities have a low threshold for considering a respiratory illness to be plague because they do not want to miss any possible cases.

WHO and the Madagascar Ministry of Health are leading a public health response to the outbreak, assisted by personnel from partner organizations around the world, including CDC.

Read more about the topic on the United States Centre for Disease control.

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