03 Aug 2009, Posted by christie in Living Bytes, 4 Comments

Two dead in China from pneumonic plague so far – what is pneumonic plague??

You may have heard this morning that two people have died and ten more are known to be infected with pneumonic plague in a town called Ziketan, in northwestern Qinghai province.  China has sealed off the town and the surrounding region, and so far WHO is not worried about the disease spreading to the rest of the world, mainly due to how remote this region is, and they do say that China has done a good job of containing the cases.   About 1000-2000 cases of plague still occur in the world each year, but the most common, according to the CDC, is bubonic plague, which is spread by flea bites or the bacteria otherwise getting into broken skin, not person to person.

Then what the heck is pneumonic plague? 

The pneumonic form of plague is the most virulent and least common form of plague, and is caused by the same bacterium, Yersinia pestis, as the famous bubonic plague.  In pneumonic plague, the Y. pestis infects the lungs.  People catch pneumonic plague by either breathing respiratory droplets from an infected person or animal, or by having untreated bubonic plague spread to the lungs.   Pneumonic plague therefore can spread from person to person, although the contact needs to be pretty close in order to breathe the droplets while the Y. pestis bacteria are still alive.   After an incubation period of 1-6 days, symptoms include  high fever, overwhelming pneumonia, cough, bloody sputum, and chills.  The pneumonia progresses rapidly and may cause respiratory failure and shock. Without early treatment, patients may die, maybe in as little as 24 hours.  To reduce the chance of death, antibiotics must be given within 24 hours of first symptoms.   Antibiotic treatment for 7 days will protect people who have had direct, close contact with infected patients.  

References:
World Health Organization Plague Fact Sheet
Centers for Disease Control Infectious Disease Information – Plague