Dog "origin of pneumonic plague outbreak"

       A dog is suspected to be the origin of an outbreak of pneumonic plague in northwest China that has killed three people and left 10,000 under strict quarantine, state media reported.
       Ziketan, a remote town in a Tibetan area of Qinghai province, has been locked down since Saturday in an effort to contain the spread of the highly virulent disease.
       One patient was in critical condition and eight others were infected, most of them relatives of the first fatality, a 32-year-old herdsman, Xinhua news agency said.
       Initial tests had shown the herdsman's dead dog was the likely origin of the outbreak, Xinhua reported on Wednesday, quoting Professor Wang Hu, director of the Qinghai disease control bureau.
       Prof Wang said it was likely that the dog died after eating a plague-infected marmot and that the man became infected when he was bitten by fleas while burying the dead dog. He died three days later.
       "The first victim buried the dead dog without any protection. After he became infected, his relatives and neighbours were in close contact with him without taking any protective measures, leading to their infection," Prof Wang was quoted as saying.
       The World Health Organisation says the bacteria which causes the plague is endemic in some rodents in the region,such as marmots.
       Meanwhile, residents of Ziketan said on Wednesday scared people were trying to leave despite the strict quarantine to contain the virulent disease.
       "Some of my hometown folks left,they are afraid of pneumonic plague,"said a businessman who works in the town but hails from neighbouring Sichuan province.
       "There are checkpoints in the street and the roads are strictly controlled so they can only leave on foot," the man,who refused to give his name, said by telephone.
       "I heard many migrant workers have left, they may go back to their hometowns," he said.
       "Those who left without permission lack responsibility. I will not leave."
       Health Ministry officials yesterday told Xinhua no one had escaped from the quarantine zone and that no new cases had been reported.