Plague

Disease class: Bacterial infection 

This is a notifiable disease. This means that all diagnosed cases must be reported to the national Public Health services.

 

Also known as

• The black death

 

Subtypes

• The bubonic plague
• The septicaemic plague
• The pneumonic plague

 

Pathogens

• Yersinia pestis

 

Pathophysioloy

• Yersinia pestis bacteria 'hitchhike' on immune cells in the lymph nodes and eventually ride into the lungs and the blood stream.
• Bleeding and coughing spreads the plague to new hosts.

 

History

• 430 BCE : Plague of Athens (epidemic). 
• 541 – 542 CE : Plague of Justinian (pandemic).
• 1346 – 1353 CE : The Black Death (pandemic).
• 1855 – 1912 CE : The Third Plague pandemic.
• 2019 CE : A couple died of plague in Mongolia after eating a raw kidney.