How do you treat pneumonic plague?
Streptomycin, gentamicin, the tetracyclines, and chloramphenicol are all effective against pneumonic plague. Antibiotic treatment for 7 days will protect people who have had direct, close contact with infected patients. Wearing a close-fitting surgical mask also protects against infection.
How is pneumonic plague prevented?
Remove brush, rock piles, junk, cluttered firewood, and possible rodent food supplies, such as pet and wild animal food. Make your home and outbuildings rodent-proof. Wear gloves if you are handling or skinning potentially infected animals to prevent contact between your skin and the plague bacteria.
Can pneumonic plague be treated with antibiotics?
Can pneumonic plague be treated? Yes. To prevent a high risk of death, antibiotics should be given within 24 hours of the first symptoms. Several types of antibiotics are effective for curing the disease and for preventing it.
What is the drug of choice in the treatment of bubonic plague?
Untreated plague can progress to a fulminant illness with a high risk of mortality. Thus, early and appropriate antibiotic treatment is essential. Historically, streptomycin (15 mg/kg, up to 1 g intramuscularly every 12 h) has been the drug of choice ; however, in the United States, supplies of streptomycin are scarce.
Is there a vaccine for pneumonic plague?
Although vaccines have been used to prevent plague in highly at-risk humans, these did not protect against pneumonic plague. Currently there are no vaccines approved for use in the United States.
What types of prevention and control strategies were used in the past to stop the spread of bubonic plague?
Restricting ships to port. In 1347 the Venetian authorities isolated ships in port for 30 days to ensure they were not infected. The period was extended to 40 days, and the word 'quarantine' comes from the italian word for 40.
How effective are plague antibiotics?
Even when antibiotics known to be effective are given, patients who develop the bubonic form of plague are most likely to survive: after treatment with antibiotics, around 10% of patients with bubonic plague and 30% to 50% of patients with pneumonic or septicemic plague will nevertheless die [22,23,45,47].
What antibiotics work on the plague?
Drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of plague include streptomycin and doxycycline. Streptomycin is bactericidal but rarely used because of limited availability and serious toxicities.
Would penicillin cure the plague?
Penicillins, cephalosporins, and other antimicrobials are not considered effective for treatment of plague [14].
What is the difference between bubonic pneumonic and septicemic plague?
The difference between the forms of plague is the location of infection; in pneumonic plague the infection is in the lungs, in bubonic plague the lymph nodes, and in septicemic plague within the blood. Diagnosis is by testing the blood, sputum, or fluid from a lymph node.