Teenage boy dies from bubonic plague after eating marmot

A 15-year-old boy has died from bubonic plague in western Mongolia, according to government health officials. The teenager caught the plague after hunting and eating marmot, according to Dorj Narangerel, spokesperson for Mongolia's Ministry of Health. He died on Sunday. Marmots are large ground squirrels, a type of rodent, that have historically been linked to plague outbreaks in the region. Plague killed an estimated 50 million people in Europe during the Black Death pandemic in the Middle Ages, but modern antibiotics can prevent complications and death if administered quickly enough.

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