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An outbreak of the plague kept Mormon missionaries out of Madagascar, but the proselytizers are going back

Mormon missionaries are returning to Madagascar nearly three months after they were reassigned because of an outbreak of pneumonic and bubonic plague on the island.

Twelve missionaries are in “various stages of returning to the island” after the outbreak was contained, according to a Friday news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Nearly 80 left the country in October, about the time the World Health Organization reported 849 suspected or confirmed cases of plague in the country since the outbreak began in August.

When the missionaries got the order to leave, 67 people had died from the disease.