The World Health Organization praised Beijing on Tuesday for its handling of a cluster of cases of bubonic plague, one of the deadliest diseases in human history.

Local authorities in Bayan Nur, located in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, sent out a warning about the plague on Sunday, a day after a hospital reported a case of the plague known grimly as the "Black Death" during the Middle Ages.

CHINA REPORTS SUSPECTED CASE OF BUBONIC PLAGUE IN INNER MONGOLIA .

Four other cases were reported in November, including two of pneumonic plague, a deadlier variant.

Pneumonic plague can develop from bubonic plague and results in a severe lung infection causing shortness of breath, headache, and coughing.

China has largely eradicated plague, but occasional cases are still reported, especially among hunters coming into contact with fleas carrying the bacterium.