pneumonic plague

Examples of pneumonic plague in the following topics:

• Plague

  • Human Y. pestis infection is manifested in three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and the notorious bubonic plagues.
  • The plague also has a detrimental effect on non-human mammals.
  • Although bubonic plague is often used synonymously with plague, it refers specifically to an infection that enters through the skin and travels through the lymph nodes (buboes).
  • Pneumonic plague manifests as a severe lung infection, and is more virulent and rare than bubonic plague.
  • Finally, Y. pestis expresses a plasminogen activator that is an important virulence factor for pneumonic plague, which may also degrade on blood clots in order to facilitate systematic invasion.

• Bacterial Pneumonias

  • Pneumonia caused by Yersinia pestis is usually called pneumonic plague.

• Tularemia

  • Tularemia (also known as Pahvant Valley plague, rabbit fever, deer fly fever, and Ohara's fever) is a serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis.
  • Depending on the site of infection, tularemia has six characteristic clinical symptoms: ulceroglandular, glandular, oropharyngeal, pneumonic, oculoglandular, and typhoidal.
  • Inflammation spreads to the lymph nodes, which enlarge and may suppurate (mimicking bubonic plague), accompanied by a high fever.

• Hypersensitivity

  • Associated disorders: Serum sickness, Arthus reaction, Rheumatoid arthritis, Post streptococcal glomerulonephritis, lupus Nephritis, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Extrinsic allergic alveolitis (Hypersensitivity pneumonitis).
  • High magnification micrograph of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, also known as extrinsic allergic alveolitis.
  • Image shows diffuse ground glass pattern identified of typical centrilobular nodule in a patient with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, often caused by occupational exposure to dust.

• The Black Death

  • The Black Death was an infamous pandemic of bubonic plague and one of the most devastating pandemics in human history.
  • In the autumn of 1346, plague broke out among the besiegers and then penetrated into the town.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa also remained largely unaffected by the plagues.
  • The thought the only way to be rid of the plague was to be forgiven by God.
  • Plague brought an eventual end of serfdom in Western Europe.

• History of Bacterial Diseases

  • From 541 to 750 C.E.., an outbreak of what was likely a bubonic plague (the Plague of Justinian), eliminated one-quarter to one-half of the human population in the eastern Mediterranean region.
  • The bubonic plague would strike Europe more than once.
  • Bubonic plague struck London hard again in the mid-1600s .
  • Although contracting bubonic plague before antibiotics meant almost certain death, the bacterium responds to several types of modern antibiotics; mortality rates from plague are now very low.
  • Such was the case with bubonic plague.

• Arthropods as Vectors

  • The human flea, Pulex irritans, and the Oriental rat flea , Xenopsylla cheopis, are responsible for the transmission of the bubonic plague, murine typhus, and tapeworms.
  • The oriental rat flea is an example of an arthropod vector as it is the primary vector of plague.
  • This vector has been the cause of large plague epidemics in Asia, Africa, and South America.

• Faith in the Face of Suffering

  • In Europe, the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were a time marked by social and economic turmoil, as well as plague and sickness.
  • The trauma of the plague led to an increased piety throughout Europe, which manifested itself in the foundation of new charities, the extreme self-mortification of the flagellants, and the scapegoating of the Jews.
  • Conditions were further unsettled by the return of the plague throughout the rest of the 14th century.

• Crises of the Roman Empire

  • The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.
  • The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, (CE 235–284) was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.
  • Additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale death, possibly weakened the ability of the Empire to defend itself.
  • When Claudius died in 270 of the plague, Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire.

• Ecology, Epidemiology, and Evolution of Pathogens

  • The Black Death (plague) of the 14th century reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million to 350 - 375 million .
  • An animation of the plague that spread through the world during the pandemic in the 14th century.