Pneumonic plague strikes Madagascar after "Dancing with the Dead" ritual

[Tactical Nuke]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41844625

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/875250/the-plague-madagascar-black-death-2017-how-did-plague-start-origin-doctors-without-borders

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/03/health/madagascar-plague-outbreak-bn/index.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4807750/madagascar-plague-spreading-relatives-dancing-corpses-black-death-famadihana/

http://nypost.com/2017/10/26/madagascar-plague-linked-to-ritual-dance-with-dead-bodies/

http://www.newsweek.com/dancing-dead-plague-madagascar-693513

Madagascar’s plague outbreak has killed more than 100 people and sparked fears among officials both on the island and abroad that the deadly disease could spread.

Now officials have identified a centuries-old tradition in Madagascar that could heighten the risk of the outbreak spreading: dancing with the dead.

The local name for the practice is famadihana, but it is also known as “the turning of the bones” or “body turning.” It involves families exhuming the bones of their deceased relatives, rewrapping them with fresh cloth, and dancing with the wrapped corpses before returning the remains to their graves.

Bodies can be “turned” more than once, but families can only exhume and rewrap their deceased every five, seven or nine years. But while the tradition is held as sacred among many in Madagascar, health officials are warning that it could aid the spread of the plague.

“If a person dies of pneumonic plague and is then interred in a tomb that is subsequently opened for a famadihana, the bacteria can still be transmitted and contaminate whoever handles the body,” Willy Randriamarotia, the chief of staff in Madagascar’s health ministry, told AFP.

Plague, an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, is endemic to Madagascar.

Cases of the bubonic plague—which is spread through the bite of an infected flea and was known in medieval Europe as the Black Death—are reported every year in the epidemic season, which usually runs from September to April.

they sure like to move it, move it

/discuss

[Ad Bot]

[kelau]

jesus christ that's morbid

[Fire Vine]

oh stuff

[IkeTheGeneric]

It's not the bubonic plague, it's a pneumonic plague. Bubonic implies it attacks the lymph nodes, this plague attacks your lungs.

Both are treatable, so a pandemic is probably not a likely scenario, but Africa's gonna see a pretty bad epidemic. This thing spreads fast, and kills fast.

[Goth77]

why the hell did they think it would be a good idea to dig up dead bodies and dance with them? can you imagine the awful smell

[SeventhSandwich]

In fairness, the article isn't saying that the ritual is spreading the plague. It's saying that because the plague is currently hitting Madagascar, that this weird corpse dancing tradition could worsen the spread.

To some extent, I actually doubt that it will spread the plague, just because it seems like this is a thing they do years after they bury a corpse. By then, all the plague-causing bacteria in the corpse should be long dead.

In other words, this ritual seems gross and probably a health hazard, but it's likely not the reason why Madagascar is getting hit by the plague.

[The Resonte!]

madagascar was always the last country to get infected by the pandemic so this is a twist

i remember hearing about this a couple days ago though

[Red Spy]

do you ever think god just really hates africa

[NotBomberguy]

what is this, europe during th 1340s?

[Foxscotch]

what is this, europe during th 1340s?

only 1340s kids can relate

[Juncoph]

antifa must be behind this