Primary pneumonic plague occurs from inhaling the organism in the
contaminated aerosol. The disease then begins in the lung.
Secondary pneumonic plague is the result of transfer of the organism from
the infected site (such as lymph node) to the lung via the blood stream.
Most cases of bubonic or septisemic plague in the United States are diagnosed
and treated before this occurs.
On Mon, 30 Dec 1996 jlh123 at mail.usask.ca wrote:
> In the book Man and Microbe the author in describing the history of
> the plague states that cold weather caused the Y. pestis attack to
> shift from the lymph nodes (the bubonic form) to the lungs (the
> pneumonic form herby enabling it to be transmitted via aerosols. In
> my Medical Microbiology class I learned that the pneumonic form is
> considered to be the secondary stage of the infection but the
> professor was unable to answer whether or not this occurs in all cases
> or just through some external stimuli. He seemed to imply that it
> happened every time.
> Does anyone know the answer?
>>
