Bubonic plague is an infectious disease that is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. These bacteria remain in a dormant state primarily in a rat flea’s foregut. Once the flea has bitten a victim it regurgitates the contents in its foregut into the bite location. Once the bacterium has entered into a mammal’s warm body it begins to reproduce and spread throughout the mammal’s body. The reproduction of this bacterium creates large painful swollen lymph nodes which are called buboes. Once these buboes get large enough they begin to ooze infected body fluid so that any contact between an infected person and a healthy person will facilitate the spread of this disease. (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012)
The areas where the buboes form are the neck, armpits, upper femoral, and groin. Once a person has been infected with Yersinia pestis it usually takes 2-5 days until they begin to show signs and symptoms of the illness. These symptoms include acral gangrene which is gangrene of the extremities to include fingers, toes, lips, and tip of the nose. Total body chills that also comes with severe uncontrollable shakes. A high fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit that induces muscle cramps. Seizures are another common symptom as well as pain begins before the buboes begin to form. In very extreme cases the victim will begin to change skin color to a pinkish hue. Some more less common symptoms are the vomiting of blood, heavy breathing, aching limbs, extreme pain, and coughing. With cases that the victim begins to go into the late stages of the illness they will begin to have gastrointestinal problems, extreme fatigue, lenticulae (the formation of black dots on the whole of the body), coma, and delirium. Along with the bubonic plague there are two other forms of plague these are septicemic plague and pneumonic plague. The pneumonic plague is caused by the pathogens that cause the bubonic