pneumonic plague

Last reviewed 01/2018

This is a clinical form of Yersinia pestis infection characterised by:

  • fulminant pneumonia
  • bloody sputum
  • marked cyanosis
  • high pyrexia
  • shallow respiration

Left untreated, most patients will die.

Pneumonic plague is not contracted from a flea bite but from the breath of an individual with septicaemic or pneumonic plague.