Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T23:48:53.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recommendations for the Control of Yersinia pestis Infections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Mark E. White ,
Diane Gordon ,
Jack D. Poland  and
Allan M. Barnes
Mark E. White*
Affiliation:
Vector-Borne Diseases Division, Bureau of Laboratories, Center for Disease Control, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Fort Collins, Colorado
Diane Gordon
Affiliation:
Bernalillo County Medical Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Jack D. Poland
Affiliation:
Vector-Borne Diseases Division, Bureau of Laboratories, Center for Disease Control, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Fort Collins, Colorado
Allan M. Barnes
Affiliation:
Vector-Borne Diseases Division, Bureau of Laboratories, Center for Disease Control, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Fort Collins, Colorado
*
Center for Disease Control, P.O. Box 2087, Fort Collins, CO 80522
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague, is endemic in the western United States; 105 cases were reported between 1970 and 1979. Plague may manifest in one of three clinical forms: bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic. Bubonic and septicemic plague represent relatively little risk for human-to-human transmission to contacts, although heavily infected secretions, such as drainage from a bubo, pose a theoretical risk, especially if they are aerosolized from a syringe during diagnostic aspirations. Pneumonic plague may be highly contagious to contacts and poses a greater risk. The Plague Branch, Center for Disease Control recommends that all patients with plague be placed in strict isolation for the first 48 hours of treatment because of the possibility that pneumonia may supervene. If it does not, wound and skin precautions are adequate for the duration of hospitalization. Untreated plague pneumonia is an epidemiologic emergency. All contacts must be identified promptly and those with face-to-face exposure should receive abortive antibiotic therapy. All contacts should be under surveillance, with twice-daily temperature checks, for seven days.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 1 , Issue 5 , October 1980 , pp. 324 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Tuchman, B. A Distant Mirror. New York, Knopf, 1978; 92–125.Google Scholar
2.Thompson, D. The ebb and flow of infection. JAMA 1976;235:269–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Hirst, LF. The conquest of plague. London, Oxford, 1953;45.Google Scholar
4.Sloan, AQ. Plague in London under the early Stuarts. S African Med J 1973;48:882–888.Google Scholar
5.Link, VB. A history of plague in the United States. PHS Publ. No. 392. Washington DC, US GPO, 1955.Google Scholar
6.Kellogg, WH. An epidemic of pneumonic plague. Am J Public Health 1920;10:599–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Anonymous. Plague. Los Angeles 1924-25. Report of the California Board of Health, Sacramento. 1926 (Unpublished).Google Scholar
8.Lamb, G. In: Pollitzer, R (ed.): Plague. Geneva, World Health Organization, 1954;298.Google Scholar
9.Kirschner, L. In: Pollitzer, R (ed.): Plague. Geneva, World Health Organization, 1954;205.Google Scholar
10.Marshall, JD, Quy, DV, Gibson, Fl. Asymptomatic pharyngeal plague in Vietnam. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1967;16:175–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11.Pollitzer, R. Plague. Geneva. World Health Organization, 1954;418.Google Scholar
12.Center for Disease Control. Isolation Techniques for Use in Hospitals, (ed 2) DHEW Pubi No CDC 76-8314. Washington DC, US GPO. 1975.Google Scholar
13.Meyer, KF. Pneumonic plague. Bacteriol Rev 1961;25:249–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Lien-Teh, WU. A treatise on pneumonic plague. Geneva, League of Nations, 1924;297–341.Google Scholar
15.Olemow, FG. The incubation period of plague. Lancet 1900;1:1509.Google Scholar
16.Velimirovic, B. Review of the global epidemiological situation of plague since the last conference of tropical medicine in 1973. In: Steele, JF (ed) CRC Handbook Series in Zoonoses, Vol 1. Boca Raton, Fla, CRC Press, 1979;560–596.Google Scholar