This document summarizes information about plague, a bacterial disease caused by Yersinia pestis. It describes the major historical outbreaks of plague, including the "Black Death" in 14th century Europe. It provides details on the isolation and identification of Y. pestis, its characteristics and modes of transmission. The document outlines the three main forms of plague - bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague - and their associated symptoms. It notes plague's potential as an agent of bioterrorism due to its ability to spread through aerosols.

1. Presented by: Asim
Zahoor Abbasi

2.  A contagious bacterial disease characterized by
fever and delirium, typically with the
formation of buboes (bubonic plague) and
sometimes infection of the lungs ( pneumonic
plague ).

3.  14th Century: “Black Death” responsible for >20
million deaths in Europe
 Used as a BW agent by Japan in WW II
 Studied by Soviet and, to a smaller extent, U.S.
BW programs
 1995: Larry Wayne Harris arrested for illicit
procurement of culture via mail

5. Isolated Organism
Developed treatment
Suggested
spread(fleas, rats)
Bacillus named
Yersinia Pestis

6.  Gram negative, rod shpaed,non-
motile, facultative anaerobe, non-
spore-forming bacillus
 Resistant to freezing temperature
and drying, killed by heat and
sunlight

7.  Virulent and generally believed to
be mutant strain.
 Cannot survive outside the animal it
infects thus disables its immune
system
 Releases toxins to kill macrophages
 After that it multiplies

8.  Bubonic Plague
 Pneumonic Plague
 Septicemic Plague

9.  Most common presentation of plague characterized
by swollen lymph glands (buboes) in groin or neck.
 Lymph nodes are infected.
 Causes severe hemorrhagic inflammation which
causes node to expand

10.  Vomiting
 Black spots on chest
 Painful swellings in the armpits or legs
 Extremely high fever
 Abdominal and muscular pain
 Diarrhea (mostly bloody)
 Hallucinations
 Death

11.  Infection of lungs.
 Highly contagious and transmitted by aerosol
droplets.
 Symptoms are headache, weakness, and coughing
with blood (hemoptysis), or vomiting blood
(hematemesis)
 Mortality in untreated cases is approximately 100%.
 Buboes may or may not be associated with
pneumonic plague.
 The ability for plague to be spread by aerosols
makes Y.pestis a potential agent of bioterrorism

12.  Spreads in blood stream.
 Observed in elderly patients.
 Causes nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea
and death.
 Buboes are uncommon.
 Carries high mortality rate and is associated with
disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), multi-
organ failure, and profound hypotension.
 Plague initially occurred as a flea-borne septicemic
disease. However, over its evolutionary course, it
acquired the plasminogen activator gene, giving rise to
the bubonic form of disease.