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Health chiefs are desperately trying to contain a deadly outbreak of airborne plague in Africa that has prompted warnings in nine countries.

More than 1,300 cases have now been reported in Madagascar, health chiefs have revealed, as nearby nations have been placed on high alert.

Two thirds of those are suspected to be pneumonic - described as the 'deadliest and most rapid form of plague', World Health Organization figures show.

The deadly disease is caused by the same bacteria that wiped out at least 50 million people in Europe in the 1300s.