(CNN) — Russian authorities have warned people near the country’s border with Mongolia not to hunt or eat marmots after an outbreak of bubonic plague.

Two cases of the plague were recorded in the Khovd province in western Mongolia, reported Russian state media agency TASS on Tuesday.

Marmots are large ground squirrels, a type of rodent, that have historically been linked to plague outbreaks in the region.

Officials from the Republican Ministry of Agriculture and Food told citizens in the border area not to hunt marmots or eat marmot meat, and take preventive measures against insect bites.

Rodents are the main vector of plague transmission from animals to humans, but the disease can also be passed on through flea bites.

Plague killed an estimated 50 million people in Europe during the Black Death pandemic in the…