The word "plague" means different things to different people. To a medical professional, it conjures visions of gruesome diseases. To a farmer, it may represent disastrous crop blights that lead to financial ruin and, perhaps, starvation. To a govern-...

For centuries past, plague was the scourge of the earth, killing at least an estimated 163 million people during three major worldwide pandemics. Today, plague still exists in the world although the number of cases and deaths is much lower. Plague...

Plague is a serious, infectious disease usually transmitted by the bites of rodent fleas. It was the scourge of our early history. There are three major forms of the disease: bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic. Plague has been responsible for three...

The bubonic plague is a highly infectious and fearsome disease that attacks the lungs and lymph nodes. It is also called the Black Death or black plague. The bubonic plague is caused by Pasteurella pestis, a bacteria which resides within infected fleas...

The bubonic plague is a highly infectious and fearsome disease that attacks the lungs and lymph nodes. It is also called the Black Death or black plague. The bubonic plague is caused by Pasteurella pestis, a bacteria which resides within infected fleas...

Bubonic plague is a disease that is typically passed from rodents to other animals and humans via the bite of a flea. The flea acquires the bacterium that causes the disease as it lives on the skin of the rodent. Humans can also acquire the disease by...

Infectious fever caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, carried by the rat flea. It usually spreads to humans only when the flea runs out of rodent hosts. It takes three forms. Bubonic, the mildest, has characteristic swollen lymph nodes (buboes) and...

The bubonic plague or bubonic fever is the best-known variant of the deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis (Pasteurella pestis). The epidemiological use of the term plague is currently applied to bacterial infections...