Plague 

  • Author: Siddharth Wayangankar, MD, MPH; Chief Editor: Michael Stuart Bronze, MD   more...
 
Updated: Oct 28, 2009
 

Background

Plague, first described in the Old Testament, has persisted into the modern era. Plague has caused large-scale epidemics, thereby changing the course of history in many nations. The first pandemic was believed to have started in Africa and killed 100 million people over a span of 60 years. In the Middle Ages, plague killed approximately one fourth of Europe's population. The pandemic that began in China in the 1860s spread to Hong Kong in the 1890s and was subsequently spread by rats transported on ships to Africa, Asia, California, and port cities of South America. In the early twentieth century, plague epidemics accounted for about 10 million deaths in India. As reported in National Geographic, mass graves of plague victims were recently discovered in an area of Venice called "Quarantine Island."

Plague is worldwide in distribution, with most of the human cases reported from developing countries. This disease is an acute, contagious, febrile illness transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected rat flea. Human-to-human transmission is rare except during epidemics of pneumonic plague. The disease is caused by the plague bacillus, rod-shaped bacteria referred to as Yersinia pestis. Yersinia is named in honor of Alexander Yersin, who successfully isolated the bacteria in 1894 during the pandemic that began in China in the 1860s.

Three studies have shown that this bacterium emerged from the gut pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis shortly after the first epidemic.[1] Three biovars (with minor genetic variations) have been identified within the Y pestis clone—Antiqua, Medievalis, and Orientalis.[1] One theory is that these biovars emerged before any of the plague epidemics. In fact, as reported by Drancourt et al (2004), genotyping performed on bacteria derived from the remains of plague victims of the first two epidemics revealed sequences similar to that of Orientalis.[2]

The virulence of this bacterium results from the 32 Y pestis chromosomal genes and two Y pestis –specific plasmids, constituting the only new genetic material acquired since its evolution from its predecessor.[3] These acquired genetic changes have allowed the pathogen to colonize fleas and to use them as vectors for transmission.[4]

Plague is a zoonotic disease that primarily affects rodents; humans are incidental hosts. Survival of the bacillus in nature depends on flea-rodent interaction, and human infection does not contribute to the bacteria's persistence in nature. Of the 1500 flea species identified, only 30 of them have been shown to act as vectors of plague.[5] The most prominent of these vectors is Xenopsylla cheopis (oriental rat flea); however, Oropsylla montana has been incriminated as the primary vector for this disease in North America.[6]

Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), the primarOriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), the primary vector of plague, engorged with blood. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.

Host fatality has been known to be the harbinger of an epidemic.[5] Whether susceptibility and fatality are related is unknown. However, ground squirrels and prairie dogs have been known to be highly susceptible to plague, whereas others have been known to be either moderately susceptible or absolutely resistant to infection.

The prairie dog is a burrowing rodent of the genusThe prairie dog is a burrowing rodent of the genus Cynomys. It can harbor fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus. Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga. Rock squirrel in extremis coughing blood-streaked Rock squirrel in extremis coughing blood-streaked sputum related to pneumonic plague. Courtesy of Ken Gage, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fort Collins, Colo.
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Pathophysiology

Y pestis is a nonmotile, pleomorphic, gram-negative coccobacillus that is nonsporulating. The bacteria elaborate a lipopolysaccharide endotoxin, coagulase, and a fibrinolysin, which are the principal factors in the pathogenesis of plague. The pathophysiology of plague basically involves two phases—a cycle within the fleas and a cycle within humans.

The key to the organism’s virulence is the phenomenon of "blockage," which aids the transmission of bacteria by fleas. After ingestion of infected blood, the bacteria survive in the midgut of the flea owing to a plasmid-encoded phospholipase D that protects them from digestive juices.[7] The bacteria multiply uninhibited in the midgut to form a mass that extends from the stomach proximally into the esophagus through a sphincterlike structure with sharp teeth called the proventriculus.

Pictured is a flea with a blocked proventriculus, Pictured is a flea with a blocked proventriculus, which is equivalent to the gastroesophageal region in a human. In nature, this flea would develop a ravenous hunger because of its inability to digest the fibrinoid mass of blood and bacteria. If this flea were to bite a mammal, the proventriculus would be cleared, and thousands of bacteria would be regurgitated into the bite wound. Courtesy of the United States Army Environmental Hygiene Agency.

It has been shown that this property requires the presence of hemin-producing genes, which are needed for the formation of a biofilm that permits colonization of the proventriculus.[8] In fact, as described by Jarrett et al (2004), this mutation in hemin genes allows colonization in the midgut without extension to the proventriculus. Consequently, the "blockage phenomenon" does not occur, thereby leading to failure of transmission.[8] This blockage causes the flea to die of starvation and dehydration.[9]

As a desperate measure, the flea then repeatedly tries to obtain a meal by biting a host, managing only to regurgitate the infected mass into host's bloodstream. However, the concept that the flea must be engorged before becoming infectious loses support when trying to explain the rapid rate of spread of disease during a plague epidemic. Studies of vectors such as O montana clearly indicate the redundancy of the aforementioned hypothesis, since this vector does not die of blockage and remains infectious for a long period, unlike its counterpart.[10]

Once the flea bites a susceptible host, the bacilli migrate to the regional lymph nodes, are phagocytosed by polymorphonuclear and mononuclear phagocytes, and multiply intracellularly. Survival and replication within macrophages is probably of greatest importance in early stages of the disease.[11] Involved lymph nodes show dense concentrations of plague bacilli, destruction of the normal architecture, and medullary necrosis. With subsequent lysis of the phagocytes, bacteremia can occur and may lead to invasion of distant organs in the absence of specific therapy.

The following are the modes of plague transmission in humans:[12]

  1. Bites by fleas
  2. Exposure to humans with pneumonic plague
  3. Handling of infected carcasses
  4. Scratches or bites from infected domestic cats
  5. Exposure to aerosols containing plague-causing bacilli
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Epidemiology

Frequency

United States

A few natural plague foci are located in the western United States. From the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, 49 cases of plague and 3 attributed deaths were reported from 1994-1999.[13] In 2006, 13 plague cases were reported among residents of New Mexico, Colorado, California, and Texas, two of which resulted in death.[14]

On average, 10-15 cases of human plague are reported annually in the United States. The rate of plague in the United States is low, since most of the endemic areas are rural and largely uninhabited, thereby limiting human exposure. In recent years, and with the potential threat for bioterrorism, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has specified Y pestis as a Category A bioterrorism agent.

Animal reservoirs in America mostly include squirrels, rabbits, and prairie dogs. However, there has been an established role of domestic cats in the transmission of plague since the late 1970s. Since 1977-1998, 23 cases of human plague associated with cats have been reported from the western states, representing 8% of all reported plague cases during that time.[6] In this scenario, transmission via inhalation was more common than in any other form of plague.

In a study of cat-related plague, mortality was associated with misdiagnosis or delay in treatment. Of the 23 cases from 1977-1998, 5 of 17 bubonic plague cases resulted in death.[6]

International

Most cases of plague reported outside of the United States are from developing countries in Africa and Asia. During 1990-1995, a total of 12,998 cases of plague were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), particularly from countries such as India, Zaire, Peru, Malawi, and Mozambique. The following countries reported more than 100 cases of plague: China, Congo, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Several foci are located in the semi-arid regions of northeastern Brazil, and outbreaks have also been reported from Malawi and Zambia. Australia is the only continent that is considered free of plague. The largest enzootic plague area is in North America—the southwestern United States and the Pacific coastal area.

The WHO reports that, in 2003, 9 countries reported a total of 2118 plague cases and 182 deaths, 98.7% and 98.9% of which were reported from Africa, respectively.

1998 world distribution of plague. Image courtesy 1998 world distribution of plague. Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.

Mortality/Morbidity

The risk of plague-related death depends on the type of plague and whether the infected individual receives appropriate treatment.[4]

The following are the mortality rates associated with the different types of plague:

  • Pneumonic plague
    • Untreated - 100%
    • Treated - 50%
  • Bubonic plague
    • Untreated - 50%-90%
    • Treated - 10%-20%
  • Septicemic plague - 20%-25%

Race

In the United States, most cases of plague occur in whites. Native Americans living in endemic areas of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah have a 10-fold greater risk of acquiring the disease than non–Native Americans.

Humans are exposed in the domestic or outdoor environment. Infections in the wild are usually isolated or sporadic, causing infections in Indians, hunters, miners, and tourists in the United States and Brazil.

Sex

Plague has no sexual predilection.

Age

Most cases of plague occur in persons younger than 20 years.

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Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Siddharth Wayangankar, MD, MPH  Resident Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center

Siddharth Wayangankar, MD, MPH is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Rhett L Jackson, MD  Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Education, Department of Medicine, Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine; Assistant Chief, Medicine Service, Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Hospital

Rhett L Jackson, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine and American Medical Association

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Michael Stuart Bronze, MD  Professor, Stewart G Wolf Chair in Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center

Michael Stuart Bronze, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Physicians, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, American Federation for Clinical Research, American Medical Association, American Society for Microbiology, Association of Professors of Medicine, Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Oklahoma State Medical Association, and Southern Society for Clinical Investigation

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Venkat R Minnaganti, MD  Consulting Staff, Department of Medicine, Winthrop University Hospital; Clinical Instructor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, State University of New York School of Medicine at Stony Brook

Venkat R Minnaganti, MD is a member of the following medical societies: All India Ophthalmological Society, American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, American Society for Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases Society of America

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

Thomas J Marrie, MD  Dean of Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, Canada

Thomas J Marrie, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American College of Physicians, American Society for Microbiology, Canadian Infectious Disease Society, and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

John L Brusch, MD, FACP  Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Consulting Staff, Department of Medicine and Infectious Disease Service, Cambridge Health Alliance

John L Brusch, MD, FACP is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians and Infectious Diseases Society of America

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD  Clinical and Research Fellow, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital

Eleftherios Mylonakis, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American College of Physicians, American Society for Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases Society of America

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

Michael Stuart Bronze, MD  Professor, Stewart G Wolf Chair in Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center

Michael Stuart Bronze, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Physicians, American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, American Federation for Clinical Research, American Medical Association, American Society for Microbiology, Association of Professors of Medicine, Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Oklahoma State Medical Association, and Southern Society for Clinical Investigation

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

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1998 world distribution of plague. Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
The prairie dog is a burrowing rodent of the genus Cynomys. It can harbor fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus. Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Oriental rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis), the primary vector of plague, engorged with blood. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Ulcerated flea bite caused by Yersinia pestis bacteria. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Swollen lymph glands, termed buboes, are a hallmark finding in bubonic plague. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Wayson stain showing the characteristic "safety pin" appearance of Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Fluorescence antibody positivity is observed as bright, intense green staining around the cell wall of Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Histopathology of lung in fatal human plague–fibrinopurulent pneumonia. Image courtesy of Marshall Fox, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Histopathology of lung showing pneumonia with many Yersinia pestis organisms (the plague bacillus) on a Giemsa stain. Image courtesy of Marshall Fox, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Histopathology of spleen in fatal human plague. Image courtesy of Marshall Fox, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Histopathology of lymph node showing medullary necrosis and Yersinia pestis, the plague bacillus. Image courtesy of Marshall Fox, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Histopathology of liver in fatal human plague. Image courtesy of Marshall Fox, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Focal hemorrhages in islet of Langerhans in fatal human plague. Image courtesy of Marshall Fox, MD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga.
Bioterrorist Agents. Signs and symptoms. Chart courtesy of North Carolina Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology (SPICE), copyright University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, www.unc.edu/depts/spice/bioterrorism.html.
Pictured is a flea with a blocked proventriculus, which is equivalent to the gastroesophageal region in a human. In nature, this flea would develop a ravenous hunger because of its inability to digest the fibrinoid mass of blood and bacteria. If this flea were to bite a mammal, the proventriculus would be cleared, and thousands of bacteria would be regurgitated into the bite wound. Courtesy of the United States Army Environmental Hygiene Agency.
After the femoral lymph nodes, the next most commonly involved regions in plague are the inguinal, axillary, and cervical areas. This child has an erythematous, eroded, crusting, necrotic ulcer at the presumed primary inoculation site in the left upper quadrant. This type of lesion is uncommon in patients with plague. The location of the bubo is primarily a function of the region of the body in which an infected flea inoculates plague bacilli. Courtesy of Jack Poland, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fort Collins, Colo.
Ecchymoses at the base of the neck in a girl with plague. The bandage is over the site of a prior bubo aspirate. These lesions are probably the source of the line from the children's nursery rhyme, "ring around the rosy." Courtesy of Jack Poland, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fort Collins, Colo.
Acral necrosis of the nose, the lips, and the fingers and residual ecchymoses over both forearms in a patient recovering from bubonic plague that disseminated to the blood and the lungs. At one time, the patient's entire body was ecchymotic. Reprinted from Textbook of Military Medicine. Washington, DC, US Department of the Army, Office of the Surgeon General, and Borden Institute. 1997:493. Government publication, no copyright on photos.
Acral necrosis of the toes and residual ecchymoses over both forearms in a patient recovering from bubonic plague that disseminated to the blood and the lungs. At one time, the patient's entire body was ecchymotic. Reprinted from Textbook of Military Medicine. Washington, DC: US Department of the Army, Office of the Surgeon General, and Borden Institute. 1997:493. Government publication, no copyright on photos.
Rock squirrel in extremis coughing blood-streaked sputum related to pneumonic plague. Courtesy of Ken Gage, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Fort Collins, Colo.
 
 
 
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