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Dances With Deaders Blamed For Madagascar Plague
[NYPost] The deadly plague sweeping Madagascar may have a particularly gruesome cause — a local tradition of dancing with dead bodies.Health officials suspect it’s no coincidence that the outbreak — which has infected more than 1,100 people and killed 124 since August — coincides with the time of year when families customarily exhume the remains of dead relatives, wrap them in a sheet, and dance with them through the streets in a sacred ritual, AFP reports. “If a person dies of pneumonic plague and is then interred in a tomb that is subsequently opened for [the ritual], the bacteria can still be transmitted and contaminate whoever handles the body,” said Willy Randriamarotia, Madagascar’s health ministry chief of staff. Posted by: Grunter 2017-10-27 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=500397 |