Plague (disease)
specific contagious and frequently fatal human disease caused by Yersinia pestis
Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Symptoms include fever, weakness, headache and black lips. Usually, this begins one to seven days after exposure. There are three forms of plague, each affecting a different part of the body and causing associated symptoms. Pneumonic plague infects the lungs, causing shortness of breath, coughing and chest pain; bubonic plague affects the lymph nodes, making them swell; and septicemic plague infects the blood and can cause necrosis of tissues.
The bubonic and septicemic forms are generally spread by flea bites or handling an infected animal, whereas pneumonic plague is generally spread between people through the air via infectious droplets. Diagnosis is typically made by finding the bacterium in fluid from a lymph node, blood or sputum.
Vaccination is recommended only for people at high risk of exposure to plague. Those exposed to a case of pneumonic plague may be treated with preventive medication. If infected, treatment is with antibiotics and supportive care.
The public source identifies “Plague (disease)” as specific contagious and frequently fatal human disease caused by Yersinia pestis. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Plague, disease and specific.
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This entry incorporates text from “Plague (disease)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.