It can be spread from person to person. When someone with pneumonic plague coughs, tiny droplets carrying the bacteria move through the air. Anyone who breathes in these particles may catch the disease. An epidemic can be started this way. In the Middle Ages in Europe, massive plague epidemics killed millions of people. Plague has not been eliminated. It can still be found in Africa, Asia, and South America. Today, plague is rare in the United States.
The time between being infected and developing symptoms is typically 2 to 8 days. But the time can be as short as 1 day for pneumonic plague. Risk factors for plague include a recent flea bite and exposure to rodents, especially rabbits, squirrels, or prairie dogs, or scratches or bites from infected domestic cats.
Bubonic plague symptoms appear suddenly, usually 2 to 5 days after exposure to the bacteria. Symptoms include:. As a boil on the skin matures, it typically develops a visible core of pus.
Learn when to see a doctor, how to get the core out of a boil at home, and…. Q fever, also called query fever, is a bacterial infection caused by bacteria commonly found in cattle, sheep, and goats.
Humans typically get Q fever…. A doctor typically orders a sputum stain to determine if a person has tuberculosis TB or another type of mycobacterial infection.
Brucellosis is often spread when people eat contaminated food, which can include raw meat and unpasteurized milk. Learn more. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Written by Julia Ries on July 7, Share on Pinterest Bubonic plague was found in China.
Getty Images. It can be cured. However, your plague risk can be increased depending on the area where you live and travel, your job, and your hobbies.
Plague outbreaks are most common in rural and semirural areas that are overcrowded, have poor sanitation and have a high rodent population. The greatest number of human plague infections occur in Africa, especially the African island of Madagascar. Plague has also been transmitted to humans in parts of Asia and South America. In the United States, plague is rare, but it has been known to occur in several western and southwestern states — primarily New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado.
Veterinarians and their assistants have a higher risk of coming into contact with domestic cats and dogs that may have become infected with plague.
People who work outdoors in areas where plague-infected animals are common are also at higher risk of getting plague. Camping, hunting or hiking in areas where plague-infected animals reside can increase your risk of being bitten by an infected flea. No effective vaccine is available, but scientists are working to develop one. Antibiotics can help prevent infection if you're at risk of or have been exposed to plague. Take the following precautions if you live or spend time in areas where plague outbreaks occur:.
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. Symptoms include swollen, tender lymph glands called buboes.
Buboes are not present in pneumonic plague. If bubonic plague is not treated, however, the bacteria can spread through the bloodstream and infect the lungs, causing a secondary case of pneumonic plague.
What are the signs and symptoms of pneumonic plague? Patients usually have fever, weakness, and rapidly developing pneumonia with shortness of breath, chest pain, cough, and sometimes bloody or watery sputum. Nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain may also occur. Without early treatment, pneumonic plague usually leads to respiratory failure, shock, and rapid death. How do people become infected with pneumonic plague? Pneumonic plague occurs when Yersinia pestis infects the lungs. Transmission can take place if someone breathes in Y.
Pneumonic plague is also transmitted by breathing in Y. Respiratory droplets are spread most readily by coughing or sneezing. Becoming infected in this way usually requires direct and close within 6 feet contact with the ill person or animal. Pneumonic plague may also occur if a person with bubonic or septicemic plague is untreated and the bacteria spread to the lungs. Does plague occur naturally? The World Health Organization reports 1, to 3, cases of plague worldwide every year.
An average of 5 to 15 cases occur each year in the western United States. These cases are usually scattered and occur in rural to semi-rural areas.
Most cases are of the bubonic form of the disease. Naturally occurring pneumonic plague is uncommon, although small outbreaks do occur.
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