PLAGUE has broken out in Uganda claiming 17 lives, Medinfo reported on Wednesday. It said the deaths were reported in the Nebbi district and were confirmed by State Minister of Health, Mike Mukula. The ministry has sent an emergency medical team to the area to treat victims and assist with measures to curb the disease. Medinfo said that authorities had placed a ban on public gatherings in an attempt to control the disease. Other measures include immediate burial of the dead and a ban on the transport of corpses. ”The spread of the disease between Ugandan counties has been attributed to the transport of a deceased plague victim, and attendance at the funeral by mourners,” Netcare Travel Clinics medical director Dr Andrew Jamieson said. He said outbreaks of plague occurred from time to time in Africa and this was attributed to poor living standards. Plague is transmitted to humans by bites from fleas that normally infest rats. Symptoms of plague include dramatically swollen glands and a fever, or a fever with a severe form of pneumonia. When pneumonia develops, usually heralded by a bloody cough, death can occur within 24 hours unless antibiotic treatment is started. – Sapa