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Definition: Bubonic Plague |
Bubonic PlagueNoun1. Plague characterized by delirium and the formation of buboes. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | An acute febrile, infectious, highly fatal disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis. It is primarily a disease of rats and other rodents, dogs and cats, and is usually spread to humans by fleas. The uniquely characteristic sign, that gives the disease its name, is the bubo, a hardened subcutaneous lymph node. There is also a pneumonic type in humans, which can be spread directly from person to person by droplet infection. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is believed to have caused several epidemics or pandemics throughout history.
The disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is usually transmitted by the bite of fleas from an infected host, often a rat. The bacteria are transferred from the blood of infected rats to the Rat Flea (Xenopsylla cheopsis). The bacillus multiplies in the stomach of the flea, blocking it. When the flea next bites a mammal, the consumed blood is regurgitated along with the bacillus into the bloodstream of the bitten animal. Any serious outbreak of plague is started by other disease outbreaks in the rodent population. During these outbreaks, infected fleas that have lost their normal hosts seek other sources of blood.
The disease becomes evident 2-6 days after infection. Initial symptoms are chills, fever, headaches, and the formation of buboes. The buboes are formed by the infection of the lymph nodes, which swell and become prominent. If unchecked, the bacteria infect the bloodstream (septicemic plague) and then the lungs (pneumonic plague).
In septicemic plague there is bleeding into the skin and other organs, which creates black patches on the skin, hence the name Black Death. Mortality in untreated cases is 50-90%, but early treatment with antibiotics is effective (usually streptomycin or gentamycin), reducing the mortality rate to around 15% (USA 1980s).
With pneumonic plague the infected lungs raised the possibility of person-to-person transmission through respiratory droplets. After two to four days of incubation the initial symptoms of headache, weakness, and coughing with hemoptysis are indistinguishable from other respiratory illnesses. Without diagnosis and treatment the infection can be fatal in one to six days, mortality in untreated cases may be as high as 95%. The disease can be effectively treated with antibiotics, however.
As a biological weapon aerosolized pneumonic plague is the only effective plague agent.
Infection
Symptoms and treatment
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bubonic plague."
Synonym: Bubonic PlagueSynonym: Plague. (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disease | Ague, angina pectoris, appendicitis; Asiatic cholera, spasmodic cholera; biliary calculus, kidney stone, black death, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague; blennorrhagia, blennorrhoea; blood poisoning, bloodstroke, bloody flux, brash; breakbone fever, dengue fever, malarial fever, Q-fever; heart attack, cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy; hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis; bronchocele, canker rash, cardialgia, carditis, endocarditis; cholera, asphyxia; chlorosis, chorea, cynanche, dartre; enanthem, enanthema; erysipelas; exanthem, exanthema; gallstone, goiter, gonorrhea, green sickness; grip, grippe, influenza, flu; hay fever, heartburn, heaves, rupture, hernia, hemorrhoids, piles, herpes, itch, king's evil, lockjaw; measles, mumps, polio; necrosis, pertussis, phthisis, pneumonia, psora, pyaemia, pyrosis, quinsy, rachitis, ringworm, rubeola, St. Vitus's dance, scabies, scarlatina, scarlet fever, scrofula, seasickness, struma, syntexis, tetanus, tetter, tonsillitis, tonsilitis, tracheocele, trachoma, trismus, varicella, varicosis, variola, water qualm, whooping cough; yellow fever, yellow jack. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Bubonic Plague |
| English words defined with "bubonic plague": Black Death, black plague ♦ plague. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "bubonic plague": or Yersinia pestis ♦ Pasteurella pestis. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Typhus, cholera, consumption, bubonic plague. (Monty Python's Flying Circus; writing credit: Douglas Adams; Graham Chapman) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Cotton treated with 0.5% Permethrin is collected by rodents to take back to their nests to kill fleas, preventing the transmission of Bubonic Plague & Colorado Tick Fever by such fleas and ticks to other rodents and people. Credit: CDC. |  | R. norvegicus is known to be a reservoir of bubonic plague (transmitted to man by the bite of a flea or other insect), endemic typhus fever, ratbite fever, and a few other dreaded diseases. Credit: CDC. |
 | The Bubonic Plague in San Francisco. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Fighting the Bubonic Plague in the Chinese and Native Quarters, Honolulu, H.I. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | [Epidemics] [Examining rats for bubonic plague in New Orleans]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | We've fought in the open - bubonic plague, yellow fever, tuberculosis--now venereal diseases / H. Dewitt Welsh. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Onset of bubonic plague is usually 2 to 6 days after a person is exposed. (references) | |
When bubonic plague is left untreated, plague bacteria invade the bloodstream. (references) | ||
Swollen lymph glands termed "buboes" caused by plague bacteria (bubonic plague). (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
bubonic plague | 429 |
bubonic plague picture | 56 |
black death bubonic plague | 12 |
symptom of the bubonic plague | 11 |
history of bubonic plague | 6 |
bubonic plague treatment | 4 |
information on the bubonic plague | 3 |
black bubonic plague | 2 |
bubonic plague in europe | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "bubonic plague"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | byldepest (pestis bubonica), bubonpest (pestis bubonica). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | builenpest (pestis bubonica), bubonenpest (pestis bubonica), pestis bubonica (pestis bubonica). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | peste bubonique (pestis bubonica). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | beulenpest (buboplague). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | βουβωνική πανώλης (pestis bubonica). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | bubópestis (glandular plague). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | poliadenite maligna (pestis bubonica), peste ghiandolare (pestis bubonica), peste bubbonica (black death). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | '死病 (black death). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | "くしびょう (black death). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | yn phlaih fairaigagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ubonicbay agueplay peste bubónica (pestis bubonica). (various references) бубонный чума, бубонная чума (pestilence, the plague). (various references) peste bubónica (pestis bubonica). (various references) böldpest. (various references) hıyarcıklı veba, hıyarcık (bubo). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Misspellings | |
"Bubonic Plague" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bubonic plagur, bubonicc plague. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-b-c-e-g-i-l-n-o-p-u-u" | |
-4 letters: cupolaing. | |
-5 letters: baculine, beaucoup, bioclean, bubaline, clubbing, cobbling, coinable, coupling, cupeling, pebbling, publican, uncouple. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
