pneumonic plague

plague (plāg) a severe acute or chronic infectious disease due to Yersinia pestis, beginning with chills and fever, quickly followed by prostration, often with delirium, headache, vomiting, and diarrhea; primarily a disease of rats and other rodents, it is transmitted to humans by flea bites, or communicated from patient to patient.

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bubonic plague  plague with swelling of the lymph nodes, which form buboes in the femoral, inguinal, axillary, and cervical regions; in the severe form, septicemia occurs, producing petechial hemorrhages.

pneumonic plague , pulmonic plague a rapidly progressive, highly contagious pneumonia with extensive involvement of the lungs and productive cough with mucoid, bloody, foamy, plague bacilli-laden sputum.

sylvatic plague  plague in wild rodents, such as the ground squirrel, which serve as a reservoir from which humans may be infected.

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pneumonic plague

n.

A frequently fatal form of bubonic plague in which the lungs are infected and the disease is transmissible by coughing.

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pneumonic plague

[no̅o̅mon′ik]

Etymology: Gk, pneumon, lung; L, plaga, stroke

a highly virulent and rapidly fatal form of plague characterized by bronchopneumonia. There are two forms: Primary pneumonic plague results from involvement of the lungs in the course of bubonic plague. Secondary pneumonic plague results from the inhalation of infected particles of sputum from a person having pneumonic plague. Aerolized Yersinia pestis could be used to cause pneumonic plague in a bioterrorism attack. Compare bubonic plague, septicemic plague. See also plague, Yersinia pestis.

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plague

an epidemic of disease attended by great mortality.

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bubonic plague

an acute febrile, infectious, highly fatal disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis. It is primarily a disease of rats and other rodents, dogs and cats, and is usually spread to humans by fleas. The more common form of plague is the bubonic. There is also a pneumonic type in humans, which can be spread directly from person to person by droplet infection. The clinical signs in all species are fever, vomiting and enlargement of lymph nodes, the buboes that give the disease its name.

cattle plague

see rinderpest.

duck plague

an acute infectious disease of ducks caused by a herpesvirus and characterized by tissue hemorrhages and blood free in body cavities, eruptions on the mucosae of the digestive tract, degeneration of parenchymatous organs and lesions in lymph nodes. Called also duck virus enteritis.

equine plague

see african horse sickness.

fowl plague

see avian influenza.

pneumonic plague

see bubonic plague (above).

septicemic plague

hematogenous spread of infection to many organs may occur without the formation of buboes; occurs in the cat with pulmonary involvement, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy and death.

swine plague

see swine plague.

sylvatic plague

bubonic plague in wild animals in uninhabited areas. See also sylvatic plague.