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    Ask The Disease Specialist: Why Is It So Hard To Beat The Plague?

    A bad outbreak is spreading in Madagascar. We checked in with a virologist and outbreak response specialist Dr. Daniel Bausch to see what's up.
    by Rae Ellen Bichell Oct 12, 2017 6 minutes
    Rat traps are a weapon behind used to fight the plague in Madagascar, since the rodents carry the disease. But getting rid of all the rats would be difficult ? and without rats, plague-infected fleas could then turn to humans for a blood meal. / RIJASOLO / Getty Images

    An outbreak of the plague is growing in Madagascar. Air Seychelles announced that it has canceled all flights into the country after a traveler returned to the Seychelles with the illness — despite World Health Organization guidance against travel restrictions because "the risk of international spread of plague appears very low." WHO has sent enough antibiotics to treat more than 5,000 people who've come down with the disease and a team of five people as well.

    We checked in with Dr. Daniel Bausch, a virologist who was deeply involved in the response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic. Now, as director of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team, he deploys health responders and epidemiologists to places experiencing bad outbreaks. In the last five months, he has sent teams to help tackle bouts of cholera in Ethiopia, meningitis in Nigeria, waterborne diseases in Sierra Leone after some terrible landslides and now plague in Madagascar.

    This interview was edited for length and clarity.

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