The pneumonic plague killed three residents of a town in northwestern China; local authorities sealed off the town after finding 12 people in total infected with the deadly lung disease.

The town of 10,000 was placed under quarantine after the first victim, a 32-year-old herdsman, died earlier in the Town of Ziketan, Qinghai Province, according to a statement released August 2 by the provincial health bureau via its official Web site. His 37-year-old neighbor died on August 2. The third victim was identified as Danzhi, a 64-year-old man, according to China’s Xinhuanet.com.

Most of infected are relatives of the deceased and are in stable condition in hospital, the health bureau's statement read.

The bureau demanded that those who have visited Ziketan and its vicinity since July 16 should seek medical treatment at a local hospital if they have developed fever and cough symptoms.
 
According to the World Health Organization, pneumonic plague, one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, is spread through the air and can be passed from person to person through coughing. It can cause people to die within 24 hours of infection.

Pneumonic plague is caused by the same bacteria that transmits the bubonic plague—the "black death" that killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Read the original Chinese article.