Bubonic plague: The most common form of the plague, named for the characteristic buboes -- buboes are enlarged lymph nodes ("swollen glands") -- in the groin which are usually very tender and painful. Lymph nodes may be similarly affected elsewhere such as in the armpits and neck. Common but less specific features of the disease include headache, fever, chills, and weakness.
The bubonic plague is caused by bacteria called Yersinia pestis. The bacteria are transmitted from infected rats to the oriental rat flea to people. (The rats are a "reservoir" for the disease. The fleas are the "vectors" that carry the bacteria from the rat reservoir to the human host.)
The bubonic plague caused the "black death" (the black plague) characterized by gangrene of the fingers, toes, and nose.
See the Plague.
Library > Literature & Language > Dictionary ( bÅ«-bÅn ' Äk, byÅ«- ) n. A contagious, often fatal epidemic disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia (syn ...
Bubonic plague, which is commonly referred to as plague, is a deadly infectious disease, which is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. This bacterium, transmitted ...
Information about bubonic plague, including its symptoms, how it's spread, diagnosis and treatment.
The Black Death: Bubonic Plague: In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but ...
Male Xenopsylla cheopis (oriental rat flea) engorged with blood. This flea is the primary vector of plague in most large plague epidemics ...