10 Things You Should Know About Pneumonic Plague
On Sunday BBC World Service emailed me to ask about the outbreak of pneumonic plague in China (latest news). Unfortunately, I didn’t get the email until today, but for BBC World Service (and everyone else), here are:
10 Things You Should Know About Pneumonic Plague
- Plague is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis.
- Most forms of plague, such as bubonic plague, are transmitted from the animal host (usually a rodent) by insect vectors such as fleas.
- In bubonic plague, patients develop swollen, tender lymph glands (called buboes) and fever, headache, chills, and weakness. Bubonic plague does not spread from person to person.
- Pneumonic plague is the least common but most dangerous and fatal form of the disease.
- Pneumonic plague is transmitted directly from one person to another by aerosols.
- Infected people usually get “flu-like” symptoms after an incubation period of 3 to 7 days, with fever, chills, head and body-aches, vomiting and nausea.
- Yersinia pestis infections are relatively easily treated with antibiotics.
- Peumonic plague is very virulent, so treatment needs to start early to prevent serious illness or death – within hours of symptoms starting.
- Although you might think of plague is a disease of the middle ages, it hasn’t gone away – it still occurs in many countries in Africa, the former Soviet Union, the Americas, and Asia. Previous outbreaks of pneumonic plague have occurred in Africa, India, and elsewhere. African countries accounted for nearly 90% of the 28,530 plague cases reported to the World Health Organization from 1994-2003 (Bubonic and pneumonic plague – Uganda, 2006. MMWR 2009 58(28): 778-781).
- A safe and effective pneumonic plague vaccine would prevent future outbreaks and thwart the use of Y. pestis as an agent of terror. Unfortunately, over 100 years of research have yet to generate a safe and effective pneumonic plague vaccine (Current challenges in the development of vaccines for pneumonic plague. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2008 7(2): 209-221).
- Should I be worried about this outbreak?
No, not particularly. This outbreak is in an isolated region and the Chinese authorities have taken appropriate steps to contain it. I would have been much more worried if it had occurred in a metropolitan region such as Beijing or Shanghai.
Related:
- How plague bacterium Yersinia pestis damages eukaryotic cells
- Plague: From the 14th to the 21st century and still going strong
- Ancient Plague
- Plague. Br Med Bull. 1998 54(3): 625-633
- Epidemiologic determinants for modeling pneumonic plague outbreaks. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 10(4): 608-614
- Immune defense against pneumonic plague. Immunol Rev. 2008 225: 256-271
Tags: Bacteria, Biology, Emerging disease, Health, Medicine, Microbiology, plague, Science, Yersinia
