Authorities in the city of Bayannur, in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, issued a warning on Sunday after a hospital patient, reported to be a herdsman, contracted the disease from eating marmot meat last week.

There were four reported cases of plague in people in the same region last November, including two cases of the deadlier pneumonic plague.

The case triggered a level-three alert Sunday in the Bayannur district. Health officials released a statement ordering residents not to hunt wild animals, such as rodents like marmots, and to report anyone with fever or showing other possible signs of infection.

The infected herdsman is being treated at a hospital and is in stable condition, according to state reports. While occasional cases are still reported among hunters encountering fleas carrying the bacterium, it is unknown how the man became infected.