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Plague warnings have been issued for nine countries in South-east Africa but as of yet health experts have been unable to contain or officially confirm the provenance of the strain.

It is believed that the Black Death outbreak could have started in Madagascar and been transferred by human interaction to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and even the islands of Mauritius and Seychelles.

Experts have said this most recent outbreak however is particularly worrying as there is “something different” about the disease that they have not seen before. The rate of its contagion across the continent is also of concern.

World Health Organisation officials warned this outbreak “could not be easily explained.”

A WHO expert said: ’The risk of the disease spreading is high at national level… because it is present in several towns and this is just the start of the outbreak.'