CHINA PLAGUE PATIENT 'NEAR DEATH'

One patient hospitalised with the highly infectious lung disease is "near death" while another person is in a serious condition, according to a notice from the health bureau of north-western Qinghai province, where the stricken town of Ziketan is located.

Seven others infected are "basically stable", the notice said.

Police have set up checkpoints around Ziketan, a farming town of 10,000 people, sealing it off to prevent the spread of the disease that can kill in as few as 24 hours if left untreated.

Residents have reported that some people have tried to flee the town on foot.

Authorities have set up a cordon with a 17-mile radius around Ziketan, more than 300 miles west of Beijing, residents say.

Public buses were pulled off the streets, and few shops were open, according to a food seller living in Ziketan, surnamed Han. The public have been told to disinfect their homes and shops, he said.

China has had previous cases of plague, a disease that circulates mainly among small animals like rats and mice but can also infect humans.

Experts have said most cases in China's north-west occur when hunters are contaminated while skinning infected animals.

Pneumonic plague is the least common and most deadly form of the disease. It can be directly spread between humans since the bacteria is airborne and can easily be inhaled by those in close contact with infected patients. But if treated early with antibiotics, it is curable.