Definition

• Acute, febrile, zoonotic disease caused by infection with Yersinia pestis
• One of the most virulent and potentially lethal bacterial diseases known
• Considered an important potential agent of biologic terrorism
• Principal forms
  • Bubonic plague
    • Infection and infiltration by Y. pestis into regional lymph nodes (buboes)
      
  • Septicemic plague
    
    • Primary: sepsis in the absence of a bubo
    • Secondary: complication of bubonic or pneumonic plague that occurs when local host defenses are breached
  • Pneumonic plague
    • Infection by Y. pestis in respiratory tract
    • Develops rapidly
    • Most frequently fatal of all forms
    • Primary: arises from an initial alveolar focus
    • Secondary: arises from an initial interstitial infiltration
      
• Unusual forms include plague meningitis, pharyngitis, endophthalmitis, and lymphadenitis at multiple sites.

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