Plague

What it is

A rare zoonotic disease characterized by life-threatening, highly contagious and rapidly progressing infection caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis, affecting rodents, and transmitted to human accidentally. It manifests differently depending on the route of infection. Bubonic plague results from the bite of an infected rodent flea. Pneumonic plague, less frequent but more dangerous, may arise through inhalation of infectious droplets or spread of bubonic plague to the lungs. Septicemic plague occurs from dissemination into the bloodstream, either as a primary infection or as a complication of bubonic or pneumonic forms, leading to disseminated intravascular coagulation, necrosis, and multi-organ failure.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 100 000 (annual incidence, Europe)

Age of onset

All ages

Classified as

Disease

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references