Plague: Symptoms, Types, and Treatment

plague is a disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. Its naturally found in some wild rodents and other animals in the western United States. You can get infected from rodent flea bites, by touching infected animals’ tissues or fluids, or by breathing in droplets from infected animals or people with pneumonic plague.

Types of Plague

Plague spreads in different ways. How the bacteria gets into your body determines what kind of plague develops:

• When Y. pestis enters through a flea bite or a cut, it multiplies near where it entered, causing bubonic plague. This leads to painful swelling of the lymph nodes, called “buboes.” bubonic plague is the most common type. If it’s not treated, it can turn into septicemic plague.
• When the bacteria gets into the bloodstream, it causes septic shock, resulting in septicemic plague.
• If you inhale Y. pestis, your lungs get infected, and you develop pneumonic plague.Pneumonic plague can also happen when the bacteria spreads to the lungs from untreated bubonic or septicemic plague. This is especially concerning because it can spread from person to person.

What are the Symptoms of Plague?

Bubonic plague can cause fever, headache, nausea, and swollen, painful lymph nodes. septicemic plague can lead to fever, extreme weakness, abdominal pain, and organ failure. Pneumonic plague causes fever, headache, weakness, and coughing up phlegm or blood because of lung infection (pneumonia). Pneumonia gets worse quickly and can be fatal without early treatment.

If you develop symptoms after being around wild rodents, fleas, or sick animals, see a doctor right away and tell them about your exposure. If you think you’ve been intentionally exposed to pneumonic plague, contact law enforcement instantly.

There isn’t a vaccine for pneumonic plague. Antibiotics are used to prevent people exposed to the plague from getting sick. Early