A Mongolian couple died of the bubonic plague -- reportedly after eating raw marmot -- prompting a six-day quarantine that left a number of tourists stranded in the region. The couple had consumed the raw meat and kidney of a marmot, believed by some to be a folk remedy for good health, Ariuntuya Ochirpurev of the World Health Organization told the BBC. The rodent is a known carrier of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium commonly associated with the highly contagious bubonic plague. WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE THE BUBONIC PLAGUEFollowing the couple's deaths on May 1, a quarantine was issued in Mongolia's western Bayan Olgii province, which borders China and Russia. Human plague infections do continue to occur in the western United States, but significantly more cases occur in parts of Africa and Asia, according to the CDC.

Source: Fox News May 07, 2019 15:11 UTC