Yersinia pestis

Yersinia pestis is a species of rod-shaped bacterium, belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is the infectious agent of bubonic plague, and can also cause pneumonic plague and septicemic plague. All forms have been responsible for enormous mortality in many fearsome epidemics throughout the history of mankind (without treatment, 75% of all infected patients with the bubonic form die, and almost 100% with the pneumonic form), such as the Great Plague and the Black Death, the latter of which accounted for the death of approximately 25% of the European population.

Related Topics:
Bacterium - Enterobacteriaceae - Infectious agent - Bubonic plague - Pneumonic plague - Septicemic plague - Epidemics - Great Plague - Black Death - European

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The genus Yersinia is Gram negative, bipolar staining coccobacilli, and, similarly to other Enterobacteriaceae, it has a fermentative metabolism. Yersinia pestis produces a antiphagocytic slime. The organism is motile when isolated, but becomes nonmotile in the mammalian host.

Related Topics:
Genus - Gram negative - Coccobacilli - Fermentative - Metabolism - Antiphagocytic - Motile - Host

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~