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Plague
What is Plague?
Plague is an infectious disease of animals and humans caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis.
Who gets Plague?
People usually get plague from being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an infected animal. Millions of people in Europe died from plague in the Middle Ages when human homes and work places were inhabited by flea-infected rats. Wild rodents in certain areas around the world are still infected with plague and outbreaks in people still occur. In the United States, the last urban plague epidemic occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25. Since then, human plague in the United States has occurred as mostly scattered cases in rural areas. Most recent human cases in the United States occur in two regions: northern New Mexico, northern Arizona and southern Colorado; and California, southern Oregon and far western Nevada.
How is Plague spread?
People usually get plague from being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying
the plague bacterium or by handling an infected animal or tissues from an infected
animal. Plague can also be spread from person to person, but only if the illness
in the infected person has spread to the lungs (pneumonic plague).
What are the symptoms of Plague?
The initial symptoms usually include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a tired feeling. This is followed by a painful and reddened swelling of the lymph nodes in the region of the body which suffered the flea bite (bubonic plague). A draining abscess of one or more lymph nodes may develop. If the disease spreads to the lungs, pneumonia with cough and some difficulty breathing may develop (pneumonic plague).
How soon do symptoms occur?
Symptoms usually appear within 2 to 6 days after a bite from an infected flea, or within 2 to 4 days after exposure to an individual with pneumonic plague.
How is Plague diagnosed?
Plague is usually diagnosed based upon the characteristic symptoms (painful and reddened swollen lymph nodes with fever) and a history of possible exposure to rodents (such as camping in areas inhabited by potentially infected rodents). The diagnosis is usually laboratory confirmed by examination of sputum (in pneumonic plague) or material aspirated with a needle from a swollen lymph node (in bubonic plague).
What is the treatment for Plague?
Untreated bubonic plague can be fatal in over half of the cases. Specific antibiotics are needed to prevent death, and early diagnosis and treatment offers better success at preventing death and other medical complications. However, despite modern antibiotic therapy, many deaths still occur.
How long is an infected person infectious to others?
Only patients with the pneumonic form of plague can be a source of infection to others. A patient becomes non-infectious to others after 48 hours on an appropriate antibiotic.
Should an infected person be excluded from work or school?
An individual with pneumonic plague should be excluded from work or school until he/she has completed 48 hours on an appropriate antibiotic.
How can Plague be prevented?
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