The United Kingdom warned against travel to the Chinese region of Mongolia amid a suspected outbreak of bubonic plague.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) currently advises against “against all international travel except essential travel” to the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, UK Express reported.
The warning comes after a hospital in Bayannur, a city northwest of Beijing, notified local government officials earlier this month of an alleged case of bubonic plague.
UK officials said travelers to the region’s rural areas should avoid consuming groundhog, a rodent believed to be a source of the highly infectious and often deadly disease.
“Meat is a delicacy in some rural areas, although hunting groundhogs in Mongolia is illegal,” the FCO said in a notice.
“When traveling through rural areas, you should avoid groundhog meat and take precautionary measures against bubonic plague.”
Anyone who believes they have been exposed to bubonic plague in Mongolia should report “immediately” to the nearest hospital, the agency said.
The report comes as a squirrel tested positive for bubonic plague in Morrison, Colorado.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death in the Middle Ages, is not uncommon in China, but cases have become increasingly rare.
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