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Description

Plague is a zoonotic infection caused by Yersinia pestis, a Gram-negative bacillus. Naturally occurring infections in humans are transmitted from rodents by fleas and are characterized by the abrupt onset of high fever, painful local lymphadenopathy draining at the exposure site, and bacteremia. Three forms of plague are recognized:

• Bubonic plague - Characterized by the presence of buboes, the inflammatory swelling of one or more lymph nodes, usually in the groin;
• Septicemic plague - Plague sepsis which can ensue from either untreated bubonic plague or de novo from a flea bite;
• Pneumonic plague - Patients with bubonic plague can develop secondary pneumonic infection, which can then be spread from person-to-person without the need for transmission through a flea vector.

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from Public Health Image Library (PHIL)

Significance in Biodefense Proteomics

The Soviet Union, as part of their wide-reaching biological weapons program, developed weaponized forms of Y. pestis in the 1970s and 1980s. These included a genetically engineered, dry, antibiotic resistant form of the bacterium. Several other countries, such as North Korea, the US, and Canada either have active research programs working with plague or have had such programs in the past.
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