An outbreak of plague has killed one man in Northwest China's Gansu province.

Local authorites say the man's remains have been properly disposed of and 151 people who had close contact with him are now quarentined.

The victim was said to have been hospitalized before he died on Wednesday.

An autopsy found he was died of plague, an epidemic which has largely died out in China.

Authorites have isolated several villages nearby and activated a third-degree epidemic alert in the region.