Worldwide, only a few thousand people get plague each year. People can become infected when they inhale the droplets or touch coughed-up mucus. Tiny droplets in the air can carry the bacteria when a person or animal coughs or sneezes. Pneumonic plague can be passed from animals to humans, or from humans to humans. For example, a hunter can pick up the disease while skinning or handling an animal with the illness. People also can get plague from direct contact with tissues of a sick animal. The fleas are likely to come from small wild animals or from pets. People are most likely to get plague from a flea bite. Other animals can get plague by eating small animals with the disease or picking up their fleas. In the western United States, these animals include: The bacteria circulate in populations of small animals and their fleas. Plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. The countries with frequent cases include Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru. In the western United States, most cases have been in Arizona, California, Colorado and New Mexico.Ĭases have occurred in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Get emergency care if you have a sudden high fever or other symptoms and you live in an area that has had cases of plague. Get immediate care if you have a sudden high fever. If treatment is not begun the first day, the disease progresses rapidly to failure of the lungs, shock and death. Symptoms can begin within a few hours after exposure and worsen rapidly. The disease may begin in the lungs, or it may spread from infected lymph nodes to the lungs. Blackening and death of tissue, called gangrene, most commonly on the fingers, toes, ears and nose.Signs of shock, such as seizure, rash and low blood pressure.Bleeding from the mouth, nose or rectum, or under the skin.More-serious symptoms may develop with advanced disease and organ failure. Buboes may not be present.Įarly symptoms are very general and include: Septicemic plague occurs when plague bacteria multiply in the bloodstream. Other symptoms of bubonic plague may include: They vary in size from about less than half an inch (1 centimeter) to about 4 inches (10 centimeters). If a person has bubonic plague, buboes appear in the armpits, groin or neck. The word "bubonic" is describing this feature of the disease. These are small, bean-shaped filters in the body's immune system. Bubonic plagueīubonic plague causes swelling of lymph nodes.
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