Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Bubonic plague - Infection/transportation

Bubonic plague - Infection/transportation: Encyclopedia II - Bubonic plague - Infection/transportation

Bubonic plague is primarily a disease of rodents, particularly marmots (in which the most virulent strains of plague are primarily found), but also black rats, prairie dogs, chipmunks, squirrels and other similar large rodents. Human infection most often occurs when a person is bitten by a rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopsis) that has fed on an infected rodent. The bacillus multiplies in the stomach of the flea, blocking it. When the flea next bites a mammal, blood consumed by the flea is regurgitated along with the bacillus into the bloods ...

Bubonic plague: Encyclopedia II - Bubonic plague - Infection/transportation

Bubonic plague - Infection/transportation

Bubonic plague is primarily a disease of rodents, particularly marmots (in which the most virulent strains of plague are primarily found), but also black rats, prairie dogs, chipmunks, squirrels and other similar large rodents. Human infection most often occurs when a person is bitten by a rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopsis) that has fed on an infected rodent. The bacillus multiplies in the stomach of the flea, blocking it. When the flea next bites a mammal, blood consumed by the flea is regurgitated along with the bacillus into the bloodstream of the bitten animal. Any serious outbreak of plague is started by other disease outbreaks in the rodent population. During these outbreaks, infected fleas that have lost their normal hosts seek other sources of blood.

In 1894, bacteriologists Alexandre Yersin and Shibasaburo Kitasato independently isolated the responsible bacterium and Yersin further determined that rodents were the likely common mode of transmission. The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

Other related archives

09-15, 1348, 14th century, 15th century, 1665, 16th century, 17th century, 1894, 2005, A Journal of the Plague Year, ABC News, Albert Camus, Alexandre Yersin, Alexandria, Andes, Ark of the Covenant, Ashdod, Athens, Australia, Black Death, Brazil, British Columbia, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, China, Climate changes of 535-536, Connie Willis, Constantinople, Daniel Defoe, Doomsday Book, East Africa, Edgar Allan Poe, Egypt, England, English, Epidemic, Ethiopia, Eurasia, Europe, Giovanni Boccaccio, Great Plains, Hebrew, Hebrew Bible, Hugo award, Human, ICD-10, India, Japanese Army, Kazakhstan, Libya, List of Bubonic plague outbreaks, London, Madagascar, Manchuria, Medieval demography, Mediterranean, Mexico, Mongolia, Mongols, Nebula award, North America, Pacific Coast, Peloponnesian War, Pericles, Philistines, Plague, Plague columns, Plague of Justinian, Ring around the rosey, Russia, Shibasaburo Kitasato, South America, Southeast Asia, Southern, Southwest, Soviet Union, Syria, The Decameron, The Masque of the Red Death, The Plague, Third Pandemic, Thucydides, Turks, USSR, Unit 731, United States, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Ural Mountains, World Health Organization, World War II, Yersinia pestis, antibiotics, bacteria, bacterium, biological weapon, bioterrorism, bitten, black rats, blood, catapult, chipmunks, civilians, diphtheria, dissection, epidemics, existentialist, gentamicin, hemoptysis, hemorrhoids, infectious disease, lungs, lymph glands, lymph nodes, mammal, marmot, marmots, measles, medieval Europe, pandemic, pandemics, pneumonic, prairie dogs, prisoners of war, rodents, science fiction, septicemic, smallpox, squirrels, streptomycin, this plague, translations

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Infection/transportation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

More material related to Bubonic Plague can be found here:

Main Page
for
Bubonic Plague Index of Articles
related to
Bubonic Plague