DOH on highly-contagious pneumonic plague: It is curable and treatable

The Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III told the public that there is no need to panic over the recent pneumonic plague reports in China, as it is a disease that can be cured.

"It is a curable and treatable disease. Masama kung walang gamot e," he said, in an interview with Raffy Tima in Jessica Soho's "State of the Nation" report.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the pneumonic plague or lung-based plague as the most virulent form of plague which can prove to be fatal, if not diagnosed and treated early.

The pneumonic plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and it is dubbed as the more dangerous type of plague when compared with the common bubonic plague.

Two people in Beijing were diagnosed with the pneumonic plague.

Chinese authorities said that the two infected individuals were quarantined and were currently being monitored at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to WHO statistics, there have been 3,248 plague cases with 584 casualties from 2010 to 2015. — Angelica Y. Yang/BAP, GMA News