Bacterium Name: Yersinia pestis
Most likely means of dissemination: Aerosol
Primary route of entry: Inhalation
General signs and symptoms: High fever, chills, headache, coughing up of blood (hemoptysis), and toxemia, progressing rapidly to difficulty in breathing (dyspnea), and bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes (cyanosis).
There is another form of the disease called “Bubonic plague." While Bubonic plague is caused by the same organism, it is not transmissible through human contact. Pneumonic plague is transmissible through human contact.
6. Brodsky, S, M.D. "This anteroposterior (AP) chest x-ray, revealed what appeared to be normal bilateral lung fields. However, this was the same patient that produced the AP x-ray depicted in PHIL 20535, captured just one day later, which displayed bilateral patchy and nodular infiltrates, caused by a case of pneumonic plague, due to a Yersinia pestis bacterial infection. Also see PHIL 20536, for an x-ray depicting a lateral view of this patient’s lungs, also just one day after this image was created, revealing pulmonary infiltrates as well." CDC Public Health Image Library, 1966, https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=20537 7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This anteroposterior (AP) chest x-ray revealed the presence of pulmonary pathology, including extensive bilateral patchy and nodular infiltrates, which were most prevalent in the region of the right lung base. Though these changes were caused by a case of pneumonic plague, brought on by a Yersinia pestis infection, these findings could also be compatible with cardiac failure, extensive bronchopneumonia, aspiration pneumonia, or Goodpasture syndrome. See PHIL 20536, for an x-ray from the same day, depicting a left lateral view of this patients lung field, and PHIL 20537, for a view of this patient’s bilateral lung fields, just one day before this image was created, revealing what appeared to be a normal set of lung fields." CDC Public Health Image Library, 1966, https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=20535
