Revelation 6:7,8 NCV When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.
Health officials in Madagascar are scrambling after 20 people in a village near the town of Mandritsara were confirmed to have died last week from bubonic plague.
The total in one week was one-third of last year’s world leading total of 60 plague deaths.
The BBC is reporting that health officials from the country’s capital have rushed to the scene to investigate and launch control measures. The plague deaths were confirmed on Tuesday by the Pasteur Institute of Madagascar.
Yersinia pestis, or black plague, is spread through rats and fleas. Humans can be infected if bitten by an infected rat or a flea from one of those rats. It cannot be transmitted between humans and is treatable if caught early.
Health officials are concerned because the disease can rapidly grow in poor hygiene conditions such as in prisons. The Madagascar prison system is overrun with rats and it’s feared hundreds could die if an infected rat taints a prison-based population.
