Introduction
Pneumonic plague (Untreated - 100%, Treated - 50%); Bubonic plague (Untreated - 50%-90%, Treated - 10%-20%); Septicemic plague - 20%-25% (Medscape)
Hosts
Human and animals
Transmission / Exposure Route
Transmitted to humans from infected flees and rodents are reservoirs of the disease (dose response page for Yersinia pestis)
Case Fatality Ratio
Disease | Untreated | Treated | Reference |
Pneumonic plague | 100% | 50% | [2] |
Bubonic plague | 50%-90% | 10%-20% | [2] |
Septicemic plague | 20%-25% | [2] |
Incubation Period
2–6 days for Bubonic plague [1]
Burden of disease
The CDC has reported an average of 10-15 cases of yersinia pestis infection annually in the United States. Areas of natural occurrence of plague in the United States include Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Internationally between 1990-1995, a total of 12,998 cases of plague were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), mostly from countries such as India, Zaire, Peru, Malawi, and Mozambique. [3]
Duration of Infectiousness and disease
Symptomology
Latency
Asymptomatic Rates
Excretion Rates (see Exposure)
Immunity
Microbiology
A Gram-negative facultative anaerobic bipolar-staining bacillus bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae