A ten-year-old boy in Siberia has reportedly caught the plague after accidentally cutting himself while skinning a rodent.
The child was on a hunting expedition in the Altai Mountains with his granddad when he caught the Bubonic Plague, reports the Mirror.
The ten-year-old was skinning a Marmot, a rodent known for carrying the Black Death, when he cut himself by mistake with the same knife and subsequently caught the fatal disease.
He is currently in hospital fighting for his life in intensive care. His condition is described as ‘serious but stable’.
However, the boy’s family aren’t the only ones who are afraid, as thousands of people in the mountains are terrified of a Black Death epidemic.
Vaccines are currently being rushed to the remote area in an attempt to lessen the chance of a full scale outbreak. Over 6,000 people have already been vaccinated.
Russian authorities have had to take 17 people, whom the boy had contact with following the hunting incident, into complete isolation from the outside world.
Apparently six members of the group are ‘at risk’.
The boy caught the plague from a Marmot, however Marmot hunting is banned in the area because of the threat of the plague.
Restrictions on Marmot hunting are typically ignored because the fur can be sold as a cheap substitute for sable.
In the Middle Ages, the Black Death caused the death of over 60 per cent of Europe.
Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague include painful and enlarged lymph nodes, chills, headache, fever, and all round weakness.
