What was the septicemic plague?
Septicemic plague is a life-threatening infection of the blood, most commonly spread by bites from infected fleas. Like some other forms of gram-negative sepsis, septicemic plague can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation, and is almost always fatal when untreated.
How does septicemic plague occur?
Septicemic plague occurs when plague bacteria multiply in the blood. It can be a complication of pneumonic or bubonic plague or it can occur by itself. When it occurs alone, it is caused in the same ways as bubonic plague; however, buboes do not develop.
How does the septicemic plague work?
When plague bacteria multiply in the bloodstream, they spread rapidly throughout the body and cause a severe and often fatal condition called septicemic plague. Untreated bubonic plague can also progress into an infection of the lungs, causing pneumonic plague.
What is the difference between bubonic pneumonic and septicemic plague?
The difference between the forms of plague is the location of infection; in pneumonic plague the infection is in the lungs, in bubonic plague the lymph nodes, and in septicemic plague within the blood. Diagnosis is by testing the blood, sputum, or fluid from a lymph node.
What is the description of bubonic plague?
Bubonic plague is an infection spread mostly to humans by infected fleas that travel on rodents. Called the Black Death, it killed millions of Europeans during the Middle Ages. Prevention doesn’t include a vaccine, but does involve reducing your exposure to mice, rats, squirrels and other animals that may be infected.
Is the septicemic plague still around?
An outbreak of the bubonic plague in China has led to worry that the “Black Death” could make a significant return. But experts say the disease isn’t nearly as deadly as it was, thanks to antibiotics.
What part of the body does the septicemic plague affect?
Bubonic plague infects your lymphatic system (a part of the immune system), causing inflammation in your lymph nodes. Untreated, it can move into the blood (causing septicemic plague) or to the lungs (causing pneumonic plague).
What does septicemic plague look like?
Septicemic plague is characterized by the sudden onset of high fever without associated bubo or other obvious localizing signs. Illness is rapidly progressive, leading to overwhelming sepsis and organ failure within a few days. Typically, the diagnosis is not considered untilY.
What are the symptoms of the septicemic plague?
Septicemic plague: The incubation period of septicemic plague is poorly defined but likely occurs within days of exposure. Patients develop fever, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, shock, and possibly bleeding into the skin and other organs.
What does Yersinia pestis look like?
Yersinia (Y.) pestis is a Gram-negative nonmotile, rod-shaped, facultative anaerobe with bipolar staining (giving it a safety pin appearance) that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is the causative agent of plague, a rare but often fatal zoonosis of historical significance in Europe (Black Death).
Can you survive bubonic plague without treatment?
Bubonic plague can be fatal if it’s not treated. It can create infection throughout the body (septicemic plague) and / or infect your lungs (pneumonic plague.) Without treatment, septicemic plague and pneumonic plague are both fatal.
Is pneumonic plague worse than bubonic?
Bubonic plague can advance and spread to the lungs, which is the more severe type of plague called pneumonic plague. Pneumonic plague, or lung-based plague, is the most virulent form of plague. Incubation can be as short as 24 hours.