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Plague

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Definition:

Plague is a severe and potentially deadly bacterial infection.

Alternative Names:

Bubonic plague; Pneumonic plague; Septicemic plague

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Plague is caused by the organism Yersinia pestis. Rodents, such as rats, spread the disease to humans.

People can get the plague when they are bitten by a flea that carries the plague bacteria from an infected rodent. In rare cases, you may get the disease when handling an infected animal.

Certain forms of the plague can be spread from human to human. When someone with the plague coughs, microscopic droplets carrying the infection move through the air. Anyone who breathes in these particles can catch the disease. An epidemic may be started this way. In the Middle Ages, massive plague epidemics killed millions of people.

Plague is rare in the United States, but has been known to occur in parts of California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico.

There three most common forms of plague are:

• Bubonic plague is an infection of the lymph nodes.
• Pneumonic plague is an infection of the lungs.
• Septicemic plague is an infection of the blood.

The time between being infected and developing symptoms is typically 2 to 10 days, but may be as short as a few hours for pneumonic plague.

Risk factors for plague include a recent flea bite and exposure to rodents, especially rabbits, squirrels, or prairie dogs, or scratches or bites from infected domestic cats.

References:

Kool JL. Risk of person-to-person transmission of pneumonic plague. Clin Infect Dis . 2005 Apr 15;40(8):1166-72.

Cobbs CG, Chansolme DH. Plague. Dermatol Clin . 2004 Jul;22(3):303-12, vi.

Josko D. Yersinia pestis: still a plague in the 21st century. Clin Lab Sci . 2004 Winter;17(1):25-9.

• Review Date: 6/29/2007
• Reviewed By: Cyrus Badshah, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine,College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Assistant AttendingPhysician, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases & MedicalDirector, Chest (TB)Clinic and Directly Observed Therapy Program, HarlemHospital Center. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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