Couple Eats Raw Marmot Meat for Health But Dies of Bubonic Plague, Triggers Quarantine in Mongolia

Dr. N. Tsogbadrakh, director of the National Center for Zoonotic Dermatology and Medicine, told The Siberian Times that the man, referred to as Citizen T, had hunted the marmot and ate its raw flesh “despite the fact that eating marmots is banned.” “He ate the meat and gave it to his wife, and they died because the plague affected his stomach,” he said.

I'm confused about eating the raw meat and what killed them. You get it from being bitten by the fleas that carry the disease. What about the actual meat killed them? Normal plague is relatively slow and you can get antibiotics to treat it. There's another type in the lungs that acts like pneumonia and is the only way I'm aware you could directly spread it.

/r/nottheonion Thread Link - ntd.com