Team of Disease Ecologists Documents Person-to-Person Spread of Antimicrobial-Resistant Plague
Published:18 Aug.2021 Source:Northern Arizona University
Although the world is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many other dangerous pathogens still out there, like Yersinia pestis, which causes plague -- the deadly disease that killed tens of millions of people during the infamous Black Death in the 14th century. Although plague has been largely eradicated in the developed world, it still affects hundreds of people globally each year.
When a human is infected with bubonic plague from a flea bite and it goes untreated, the infection can progress and spread to the lungs, resulting in pneumonic plague. The most feared clinical form of plague, pneumonic plague is typically lethal if not quickly treated, and infected patients can transmit the disease to others via respiratory droplets. A team of scientists from Northern Arizona University's Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, led by professor Dave Wagner, recently published their findings from a remarkable study involving antimicrobial resistant (AMR) plague.