Bubonic plague is the best-known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Binomial name (Lehmann & Neumann, 1896) van Loghem 1944 Yersinia pestis (Pasteurella pestis) is a Gram-negative facultative anaerobic bipolar-staining (giving it a safety pin appearance) bacillus bacterium belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. ...

Pathology and transmission

Bubonic plague is an infection of the lymphatic system, which can affect the heart, usually resulting from the bite of an infected flea. The bacteria rapidly spread to the lymph nodes and multiply. Yersinia pestis can resist phagocytosis and even reproduce inside phagocytes and kill them. As the disease progresses the lymph nodes can hemorrhage and become necrotic. Bubonic plague can progress to the lethal septicemic plague in some cases. The lymphatic system is a complex network of lymphoid organs, lymph nodes, lymph ducts, lymphatic tissues, lymph capillaries and lymph vessels that produce and transport lymph fluid from tissues to the circulatory system. ... For other uses, see Flea (disambiguation). ... A phagocyte is a cell that ingests (and destroys) foreign matter, such as microorganisms or debris via a process known as phagocytosis, in which these cells ingest and kill offending cells by cellular digestion. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Necrosis (in Greek Νεκρός = Dead) is the name given to unprogrammed death of cells/living tissue (compare with apoptosis - programmed cell death). ... Plague redirects here. ...

The fatality rate for bubonic plague during the Middle Ages was ca. 33%^[1]. It was noted in past epidemics that the buboes would sometimes rupture in surviving patients, releasing an offensive-smelling pus. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...

Symptoms

The distinguishing symptom is the appearance of buboes, which are bulges from swollen lymph nodes that most commonly appear in the groin and axilla, and sometimes the neck. Other symptoms include delirium, vomiting, severe headaches, bleeding in the lungs, severe pain in the gastrointestinal tract and lower limbs, inability to tolerate bright light, and mental disorientation. A bubo is a swelling of the lymph nodes, found in an infection such as bubonic plague, gonorrhea, tuberculosis or syphilis. ...

See also

• Black Death
• List of historical plagues

This article concerns the mid fourteenth century pandemic. ... The term plague, in human history, refers to an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality, i. ...

Notes