Get immediate medical attention: To prevent illness, a person who has been exposed to pneumonic plague must receive antibiotic treatment without delay.
If an exposed person becomes ill, antibiotics must be administered within 24 hours of their first symptoms to reduce the risk of death. Notify authorities: Immediately notify local or state health departments so they can begin to investigate and control the problem right away. How can the general public reduce the risk of getting pneumonic plague from another person or giving it to someone else?
If possible, avoid close contact with other people. People having direct and close contact with someone with pneumonic plague should wear tightly fitting disposable surgical masks. If surgical masks are not available, even makeshift face coverings made of layers of cloth may be helpful in an emergency.
People who have been exposed to a contagious person can be protected from developing plague by receiving prompt antibiotic treatment. How is plague diagnosed? The first step is evaluation by a health worker. Once the laboratory receives the sample, preliminary results can be ready in less than two hours. Confirmation will take longer, usually 24 to 48 hours. How long can plague bacteria exist in the environment?
Yersinia pestis is easily destroyed by sunlight and drying. Even so, when released into air, the bacterium will survive for up to one hour, depending on conditions. Is a vaccine available to prevent pneumonic plague? Currently, no plague vaccine is available in the United States. Research is in progress, but we are not likely to have vaccines for several years or more. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Emergency Preparedness and Response.
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What's this? Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website. Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website. A person usually becomes ill with bubonic plague 2 to 6 days after being infected. Someone exposed to Yersinia pestis through the air would become ill within 1 to 3 days. When bubonic plague is left untreated, plague bacteria can invade the bloodstream.
When plague bacteria multiply in the bloodstream, they spread rapidly throughout the body and cause a severe and often fatal condition called septicemic plague. Untreated bubonic plague can also progress into an infection of the lungs, causing pneumonic plague. If plague patients are not given specific antibiotic therapy, all forms of plague can progress rapidly to death.
The first step in plague diagnosis is evaluation by a health worker. Once the laboratory receives the sample, preliminary results can be ready in less than two hours. Laboratory confirmation will take longer, usually 24 to 48 hours. Often, presumptive treatment with antibiotics will start as soon as samples are taken, if plague is suspected.
Plague was first introduced into the United States in Between and , confirmed or probable human plague cases occurred in the United States. In recent decades, an average of 7 human plague cases are reported each year range: cases per year.
Worldwide, between 1, and 2, cases each year are reported to the World Health Organization external icon WHO , though the true number is likely much higher. Plague can still be fatal despite effective antibiotics, though it is lower for bubonic plague cases than for septicemic or pneumonic plague cases.
It is hard to assess the mortality rate of plague in developing countries, as relatively few cases are reliably diagnosed and reported to health authorities. Plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics. Once a patient is diagnosed with suspected plague they should be hospitalized and, in the case of pneumonic plague, medically isolated.
Laboratory tests should be done, including blood cultures for plague bacteria and microscopic examination of lymph node, blood, and sputum samples. Antibiotic treatment should begin as soon as possible after laboratory specimens are taken. To prevent a high risk of death in patients with pneumonic plague, antibiotics should be given as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours of the first symptoms.
Although cases can occur any time of the year, most cases in the United States are acquired from late spring to early fall. Without quick, aggressive treatment, many of the people exposed to the bacteria will die. No vaccine is now available for plague, although efforts are underway to develop one. When people are exposed to infected people or animals, antibiotics can be used to prevent the illness — if the treatment is started right away. Plague bacteria released into the air will survive less than one hour.
They are destroyed by sunlight, heat and drying. You may also be able to reduce your risk of illness if you remove your clothing and take a shower, within the first hour after being exposed.
However, you would still need to take antibiotics as a preventive measure. All forms of plague can be treated with antibiotics. However, people with pneumonic plague must be treated within 24 hours after they develop symptoms. However, if you have any reason to believe that you may have been exposed, talk to your doctor immediately. If you see any suspicious situations or activity in your community — including possible use of disease germs as weapons — alert your local law enforcement agency.
Please report any suspected cases of bioterrorism diseases or symptoms immediately by telephone to MDH at or This algorithm is combined with simple planning, training, and exercise tools that facilities can use and modify to ensure preparedness components are in place and regulatory requirements are met.
This Toolbox will be continually updated in response to user needs. The recommendations in this Toolbox are meant to create a standard for Minnesota Frontline facilities and are not regulatory. Plague Facts On this page: What is plague?
There are three kinds of plague: Bubonic plague is the most common form of the disease in nature, accounting for percent of cases.
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