What Ebola can teach us about a new bubonic plague outbreak in Africa

Both outbreaks are unusual, just not for the reasons people may think

Ebola
(Image credit: (John Moore/Getty Images))

While West Africa battles Ebola, another outbreak is striking just across the continent. In Madagascar, cases of plague are erupting in the small village of Mandritsara and the disease is spreading to neighboring communities. The two outbreaks are related by more than simple surface similarities, though. In fact, fighting the first has provided an invaluable blueprint for containing the second.

First off, it's important to note that both outbreaks are unusual, just not for the reasons people may think. What makes them stand out isn't that they're occurring in the first place, but the number of cases involved.

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s.e. smith is a writer, editor, and agitator from Northern California. smith works as the deputy opinion editor at The Daily Dot and the social justice editor at xoJane, with writing credits in publications like The Guardian, Bitch Magazine, AlterNet, Nerve, and Time.