For the pneumonic form of plague, symptoms are characteristic. Pneumonic plague: forms, symptoms and treatment

A disease such as pneumonic plague in humans develops when transmitted by airborne droplets, i.e., entering the body with the help of the respiratory system. In the patient's body, the primary reaction is characterized by the rapid development of multiple foci of inflammation in the lungs.

The pulmonary form has two stages of the disease. The first stage is characterized by the presence of general symptoms, and the second stage is characterized by sudden changes in the lungs. During the period of the disease, such periods as initial febrile excitement, the height of the disease and the soporous period can be noted, when shortness of breath progresses, and sometimes coma. The second period is epidemically more dangerous, since it is accompanied by a very abundant release of microbes.

In pneumonic plague, the clinical picture can be very diverse. Usually the disease begins suddenly, without any prodromal phenomena. The patient feels severe headaches, chills, weakness, pain in the limbs and lower back, and often vomiting and nausea. The patient's face becomes red, becoming puffy. Body temperature rises rapidly to 40.5. At this time, the patient becomes restless, he may begin to complain about chest pain. The pulse quickens, and sometimes an arrhythmia may appear. All the symptoms described above appear in the very first day of the disease.
Patients at the height of the disease may experience shortness of breath and increased respiration, which continue to increase with the development of the disease. Complaints may be a feeling of tightness in the chest or a feeling of lack of air. Sometimes patients experience a sense of fear of imminent death. They may try to get up and leave the room. During the agonal period, the patients showed pronounced adynamia and shallow breathing.

A fairly common symptom of plague pneumonia is a cough, usually with little sputum production. The sputum that is secreted at first may have a mucous or mucopurulent structure, but after a while streaks of expectorated blood begin to appear in it. In most cases, sputum acquires a foamy structure of bright red color, standing out in very large quantities. In a sputum smear at the very beginning of the disease, the plague microbe may not be detected or may be found in small quantities. But during the height of the disease, a huge amount of the plague microbe is present in the sputum.

The stage of primary plague pneumonia can proceed in a not quite typical form. Often the sputum of plague patients is similar to the sputum produced by croupous pneumonia, with its short-term release. Rarely, sputum may be absent altogether. Sometimes patients have severe hemoptysis, which raises suspicions of tuberculosis. In the case of an extremely severe form, patients do not cough, however, if they are allowed to cough up, then sputum stained with blood will definitely appear.
At the onset of the disease, changes in the lungs are very weak or absent altogether. But even in the midst of the disease, these data are scarce. Plague pneumonia is characterized by the absence of certain data in patients, which contradicts their general serious condition. Even with deep and extensive lung damage in patients with percussion, there is no dullness at all, or it is noticeable in small areas. When listening, wheezing is mostly not noted.
If, in 2-3 days, patients with primary pneumonic plague are not provided with the necessary health care, then, as a rule, a fatal outcome occurs, since the disease proceeds quickly with high contagiousness.

Emergency prophylaxis for pneumonic plague.
In order to prevent plague, people who have been in contact with plague patients are prescribed antibiotics with a course of treatment of up to 5 days.
Streptomycin is injected into the body twice a day with a dosage of 0.5 g. In the case of the appointment of monomycin, it should be administered twice a day intramuscularly at 0.5 g. Emergency prophylaxis is also carried out with the help of tetracycline antibiotics.

Prevention and treatment of pneumonic plague.
Necessary prevention, treatment of pneumonic plague is as follows. A special vaccine, which is prepared from the plague pathogens killed by heating, is capable of creating the necessary immunity after 3 injections at intervals of 2 weeks. In the future, to maintain the required immunity, it is necessary to do revaccination every 2 years. But the live dry plague vaccine is administered once, which allows you to create immunity for up to 6 months. Under the most unfavorable epidemic conditions, revaccination should be carried out after 6 months.
Diagnosis in the laboratory is based on the direct isolation of the plague pathogen itself, the necessary determination of the antigen in the test material, as well as the detection of specific antibodies in the blood serum. The material for such studies are: the contents of vesicles, bubo, carbuncles, pustules, the contents of mucus and sputum from the nasopharynx, blood, feces.
In the patient's blood, neutrophilic leukocytosis can be detected, but during the recovery period, lymphocytosis, leukopenia, a dangerous decrease in the number of red blood cells and hemoglobin may appear. Urine tests show traces of protein. The obligatory availability of epidemiological and clinical data, as well as the timely detection of gram-negative ovoid bipolar stained rods, makes it possible to suspect plague at an early stage. However, the final diagnosis can only be made on the basis of the mandatory isolation and identification of cultures.
For preventive treatment plague, the following types of antibiotics are used - dihydrostreptomycin, streptomycin, chlortetracycline, pasomycin, oxytetracycline, dibiomycin.
Pneumonic plague: symptoms, prevention, treatment - it is in this sequence that the patient with this serious disease is helped.

Plague is one of the most dangerous diseases that claimed thousands of human lives for several hundred years.

Unfortunately, this infection exists now, and from time to time in different countries of the world its outbreaks arise. As a result, a large number of people die. The pulmonary form of the disease is especially dangerous, as it is highly contagious.

Methods of infection with plague

This disease is considered very formidable, as it often leads to blood poisoning and death. It has been known since ancient times. Previously, the disease terrified people. They did not know what provoked it and how to cope with the terrible epidemics that devastated entire cities.

The causative agent of infection is Science knows several varieties of this microorganism. Plague wand can be transmitted by animals (hares, cats, camels, ground squirrels, rats).

Bloodsucking insects (mainly fleas) are also carriers. As a rule, animals die almost immediately after infection, or the disease in them passes in a latent form. Rodents (ground squirrels, marmots, jerboas) usually carry this form of the disease during hibernation. The plague bacillus is a fairly resistant microorganism. It can remain in the secretions of the patient (mucus, blood) and even in corpses for several months. There are four forms of disease caused by this microorganism. These are varieties such as:

1. bubonic form.
2. Septic plague.
3. skin form.
4. Pneumonic plague.

The last form is extremely severe. Mortality rates for this type of infection are very high.

Types of pneumonic plague

There are two types of this infection:

1. The primary pulmonary form is characterized by a short latent period - from one day to three days. The disease develops very quickly and is manifested by pronounced symptoms. In the absence of adequate therapy, a person dies two to three days after infection.
2. secondary form. Occurs as a complication of another type of plague. It develops gradually, at the beginning of the disease the symptoms are not pronounced.

Both varieties are characterized by similar characteristics and are considered highly contagious. This is because pneumonic plague is transmitted from person to person.

Methods of infection

There are several routes of transmission of the disease. These include the following:

Secondary pneumonic plague occurs when microorganisms enter the respiratory system through the blood or lymph fluid.

Stages of the disease

The primary pulmonary form of plague proceeds in three stages:

1. This is a short period (from several hours to several days) from the very moment of infection to the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease. At this stage, microorganisms actively multiply.
2. First stage. This is the period of occurrence of general signs of the disease. There are also specific signs of pneumonic plague, such as coughing and inflammation.
3. Second phase. This stage is characterized by the occurrence of pathological processes in the lungs and serious respiratory disorders. The patient during this period is extremely contagious.

Pneumonic plague is considered the most dangerous type of this infection, since even with treatment, five to fifteen percent of patients die. The presence or absence of timely and effective treatment largely determines whether the patient has a chance to survive or not.

Signs of illness

So how does pneumonic plague manifest itself? Symptoms in humans first appear general, characteristic of all forms of this infection. On the first day of illness, the temperature rises sharply (up to 40 degrees and above). Appear pain in the muscles, back and head, lethargy, nausea and vomiting (sometimes mixed with blood). Then the patient begins to cough, he feels a lack of air, it is difficult for him to breathe.

In pneumonic plague, the symptoms are such as respiratory problems (it becomes too frequent) and mucus discharge. At first, the patient's cough is accompanied by expectoration of light, almost transparent sputum. Sometimes the discharge contains pus. Then blood and foam appear in the sputum, a lot of it leaves. Usually on the second day of illness, the patient's condition deteriorates sharply, and some die during this period due to serious violations of the functions of the heart and respiratory organs or as a result of the development state of shock.

Diagnosis of the disease

It is quite difficult to identify an infection such as pneumonic plague. This is due to the absence of signs inherent only to this disease. For example, symptoms such as severe coughing and bloody sputum are characteristic of tuberculosis, and it is difficult for doctors to distinguish between these types of pathologies. Also, the infection develops very quickly, and this makes it difficult to diagnose. When there is an outbreak in a locality, health workers carefully examine people with symptoms such as coughing and bloody sputum. In such cases, patients with similar pathological phenomena are hospitalized and placed in separate wards. Doctors closely monitor them and monitor their condition. In order to identify the presence of the plague pathogen in the body, a special blood test is performed.

Also, drugs are injected under the skin, the patient's reaction to them is assessed and they decide whether to vaccinate. In some cases, a person needs to be re-vaccinated. If necessary, physicians laboratory research not only blood, but also other biological material (urine, feces, vomit, sputum).

Therapy

Since pneumonic plague is a disease characterized by rapid development, doctors begin treatment even before the end of the diagnosis. Since this type of infection is highly contagious, the patient is placed in a separate room. Therapy includes antibiotics, measures to cleanse the body of toxins and the introduction of a special serum.

In case of violations of the functions of the respiratory organs and the heart muscle, doctors conduct specific treatment. Additional therapy is also required if there is a threat of developing a shock state. Usually, in the absence of fever and pathogens in the blood, the patient is discharged from the hospital after six weeks of treatment. However, a person who has had pneumonic plague must be under the supervision of doctors for three months.

Preventive actions

Actions to prevent this dangerous disease, include the following:

1. Assessing the state of wild animals, establishing restrictions on hunting for them during outbreaks of the disease.
2. Timely notification of people about epidemics and ways of infection.
3. Vaccination of persons with an increased risk of infection (hunters, biologists, geologists, archaeologists).
4. If a person shows signs of a disease such as pneumonic plague, treatment and isolation should occur as soon as possible. Relatives and friends of the patient are prescribed prophylactic antibiotics. They must also be in the hospital under the supervision of doctors for six days.
5. All belongings of the patient must be treated with a special disinfectant solution.
6. In the territory where the epidemic was registered, it is necessary to carry out measures to exterminate rats. They also exterminate sick animals living in the wild (hares, ground squirrels, marmots, and so on). In the territory where an outbreak of the disease is detected, quarantine is established.

Since pneumonic plague is highly contagious, care must be taken to ensure that the infection does not spread.

Pneumonic plague in humans develops with an airborne transmission mechanism. The respiratory organs serve as the entrance gate. The primary reaction in the patient's body is expressed by the development of foci of inflammation in the lungs.

In the pulmonary form, two stages of the disease are distinguished. The first is characterized by the predominance of general symptoms, during the second stage, changes in the lungs are pronounced. During the course of the disease, there is a period of initial febrile excitement, a period of the height of the disease and a soporous (terminal period) with progressive dyspnea and sometimes coma. Epidemiologically the most dangerous is the second period, accompanied by an intensive release of microbes into the external environment.

Clinical picture pneumonic plague, especially in the initial period of the disease, can be very diverse. The onset of the disease is usually sudden, without prodromal phenomena. The patient develops chills, severe headaches, pain in the lower back and limbs, weakness, often nausea and vomiting. The face becomes puffy and red. The temperature quickly rises to 39.5-40.5. The patient is restless, complains of chest pain. The pulse is frequent, sometimes arrhythmic. These symptoms appear on the first day of the disease.

At the height of the disease, patients have rapid breathing and shortness of breath, which increase with the development of the disease. Patients complain of pain and a feeling of constriction in the chest, often feel a lack of air and experience a feeling of fear of death, try

Get up and leave the room. In the agonal period, patients have shallow breathing, pronounced adynamia.

Common symptom Plague pneumonia is a cough that is usually mild with or without sputum production. The secreted sputum may initially be mucous or mucopurulent, but soon blood streaks appear in it. In typical cases, the sputum becomes frothy, bright red in color, liquid in consistency and is excreted in large quantities. At the beginning of the disease, the plague microbe may not be detected in a sputum smear or occur in small numbers. In the midst of the disease in the sputum - a large number of plague microbes.

Primary plague pneumonia does not always proceed in a typical form. Quite often, the sputum in patients with plague resembles sputum in croupous pneumonia and its discharge is short-lived. In rare cases, sputum is absent. Sometimes patients have copious hemoptysis, which causes suspicion of tuberculosis. When extremely severe forms Patients do not cough, but if you ask them to cough, then a characteristic blood-stained sputum appears.

Changes in the lungs at the onset of the disease are mild or absent. These data are scarce even in the midst of the disease. The clinic of plague pneumonia is characterized by the absence of objective data in patients and this is in conflict with their severe general condition. Even with extensive and deep lung damage in plague patients, dullness on percussion is often not observed or it is noted in small areas. Wheezing is also mostly not audible.

Untreated patients with primary pneumonic plague die within 2-3 days. The disease proceeds rapidly with high contagiousness with a lethal outcome up to 100%.

Emergency prevention of pneumonic plague

Streptomycin is administered at 0.5 g 2 times a day. When prescribing monomycin, it is administered intramuscularly at a dose of 0.5 g 2 times a day. Emergency prophylaxis can also be carried out with tetracycline antibiotics alone and in combination with other drugs.

Prevention. A vaccine made from heat-killed plague pathogens can induce immunity after 3 doses 2 weeks apart. In the future, to maintain immunity, it is necessary to carry out revaccination every 2 years. Live dry anti-plague vaccine is administered once and creates immunity lasting up to 6 months. In particularly unfavorable epidemic conditions, revaccination is carried out after 6 months.

Laboratory diagnostics is based on the isolation of the plague pathogen or the determination of an antigen in the test material and the detection of specific antibodies in the blood serum. All studies are carried out in special laboratories. The material for the study is: the contents of the bubo, vesicles, pustules, carbuncles, discharge of ulcers, sputum and mucus from the nasopharynx (in the pulmonary form), blood in all forms of the disease, feces in the presence of diarrhea.

In the blood, neutrophilic leukocytosis is detected, during the recovery period, leukopenia, lymphocytosis, a decrease in the amount of hemoglobin and erythrocytes may occur. In the urine - reveal traces of protein, erythrocyturia and cylindruria. For bacterioscopic examination, smears are prepared from the patient's secretions. The presence of clinical and epidemiological data, the detection of gram-negative ovoid bipolar-stained rods makes it possible to suspect the plague. The final diagnosis is made on the basis of the isolation and identification of the culture.

Antibiotics for prophylactic treatment of plague - Streptomycin, Dihydrostreptomycin, Pasomycin, Chlortetracycline, Dibiomycin, Oxytetracycline, Monomycin

Cultures are usually differentiated from pathogenic intestinal microflora, the causative agent of hemorrhagic septicemia and tularemia according to morphological, cultural, biochemical and serological characteristics. It is more difficult to differentiate the microbes of plague and pseudotuberculosis.

The main difference between the causative agent of pseudotuberculosis: virulence in the S-form, insensitivity to the plague bacteriophage, mobility at a temperature of 20 degrees C due to the presence of flagella, fermentation of urea, glycerol, rhamnose, sensitivity to pesticin I, absence of fraction I antigen, fibrinolysin and plasmacoagulase.

Serological method - reaction of passive hemaagglutination, neutralization of antibodies and antigen, inhibition of passive hemagglutination. The serological method allows in a short time to examine the territory where diseases of rodent plague are found, and to determine the boundaries of the epizootic. Serological methods diagnostics can be used only in some patients. Thus, the reaction of passive hemagglutination to the I fraction of the plague pathogen becomes positive only starting from the 5th day after the onset of the disease and reaches a maximum by the 14th day of the disease.

Average doses of antibiotics in the treatment of patients with bubonic plague

The luminescent-serological method for determining the antigen in the test material is an express method for diagnosing plague. the method is based on the use of specific antibodies labeled with fluorescent substances.

Discharge from the hospital of persons who have had a local form of plague is made no earlier than 4 weeks after the normalization of body temperature, and those who have had disseminated (pulmonary and septic) forms of plague - no earlier than 6 weeks if there are negative results of the study of punctate from bubo, sputum , mucus from the nasopharynx (depending on the form of the disease), taken on the 2nd, 4th and 6th day after the end of etiotropic therapy. Behind the convalescents is dispensary observation within 3 months. Convalescents with preserved sclerosed buboes can be discharged from the hospital after a double bacteriological examination of the bubo punctate.

- a lung disease transmitted by airborne droplets, with the development of multiple foci of inflammation in the lungs. The disease is also known as plague pneumonia.

The pulmonary form of plague goes through two stages in development. The first one shows general symptoms, and at the second stage, sharp changes in the lungs are recorded. At the beginning, feverish excitement is typical, followed by the height of the disease and a soporous period, in which shortness of breath gradually worsens, in some cases a person falls into a coma. The second period is epidemically more dangerous, because microbes are released from the patient's body in large quantities.

Symptoms

From the moment of infection to the onset of the first symptoms of the disease ( incubation period) lasts from 2-3 hours to 6 days. The average incubation time is 2-3 days. With the primary pulmonary form of plague, the incubation period is shorter, mostly 1-2 days. In those previously vaccinated against plague, the period before the onset of symptoms can be 8-9 days.

The patient's tongue is covered with a thick white coating, which is called "chalky" by doctors. The tongue is edematous, which prevents the patient from speaking clearly. With a severe course of the disease, the face becomes cyanotic, its features become sharper and a special expression of suffering and horror appears, which is called "face". But these signs may not appear with pneumonic plague.

Symptoms may vary. The disease, as a rule, begins suddenly, prodromal phenomena are not observed. The patient complains about:

• chills
• severe headaches
• lower back pain
• pain in arms and legs
• nausea and vomiting
• red face color
• puffiness of the face

Body temperature in a short period of time reaches 40.5 ° C. The patient's anxiety is noted, the person feels pain in the chest. The pulse is speeded up, arrhythmias sometimes appear. The above symptoms appear in the first 24 hours of the disease. At the peak of the disease, patients can fix shortness of breath and shortness of breath, which are getting worse and worse. Patients may complain of a feeling of lack of inhaled air or a feeling of constriction in the chest area.

Patients may complain of a sense of fear of imminent death. They may attempt to leave the room. During the period of agony, patients have shallow breathing and pronounced adynamia.

A characteristic symptom of pneumonic plague (plague pneumonia) is a cough, almost always with minimal sputum production. At first, the separated sputum may be mucous or mucopurulent, but after some time streaks of blood are found in it. Most often, sputum becomes frothy, bright red in color, and is excreted in large volumes. In the first few days of illness, a sputum smear may not reveal a plague microbe, or it can be found in a minimal amount. At the peak of the disease, it is found in large quantities.

The stage of primary plague pneumonia can proceed in a not quite typical form. The sputum may resemble that of croupous pneumonia, it is secreted for a short time. In rare cases, there is no sputum at all. Sometimes patients have severe hemoptysis, which can mislead the diagnostician, since such a picture resembles.

If the disease is extremely severe, patients do not cough. But, if you force a person to cough, then in all cases blood-colored sputum will stand out. At the onset of the disease, changes in the lungs are very slight, or not observed at all. At the height of the disease, minor changes are also found.

For pneumonic plague, the absence of certain data in patients is typical, which is not logically associated with their general, very serious condition. Even with deep and extensive lung damage in patients with percussion, there is no dullness at all, or it is detected in small areas. Listening to light wheezing does not detect. If treatment is not started within the first 2-3 days of primary pneumonic plague, death occurs because the disease proceeds rapidly with high contagiousness.

Diagnostics

Mandatory laboratory diagnostics, which consists in isolating the causative agent of the plague itself. Antigen is also determined in the test material; the doctor may prescribe tests to detect specific antibodies in the blood serum. For such studies, the contents are taken:

• bubo
• vesicle
• pustules
• carbuncles
• contents of mucus and sputum from the nasopharynx
• as well as feces and blood

In the patient's blood, doctors can detect neutrophilic leukocytosis. During recovery, leukopenia, lymphocytosis, a dangerous decrease in the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin are detected. Urinalysis shows traces of protein. In the anamnesis, the doctor records epidemiological and clinical data. It is important to detect gram-negative ovoid bipolar-stained rods in time, which makes it possible to diagnose early stages plague. But for the final diagnosis, it is necessary to isolate and identify the pathogen culture.

For the prophylactic treatment of plague, such types of antibiotics:

• dihydrostreptomycin,
• pasomycin,
• dibiomycin.

Complications

Pneumonic plague is a severe disease, high mortality. Prior to the use of antibiotics in treatment, survival rates were very low. This explains the absence of complications (they do not have time to develop for such a short time). But in clinical practice there are such complications as, in which headaches intensify, the patient falls into an unconscious state in a short time.

Against the background of an improvement in the condition of patients, a common bacterial infection sometimes joins the plague. Immunity after the plague is not very long. There is a possibility of re-infection with pneumonic or other forms of plague.

Emergency prophylaxis for pneumonic plague

If there is contact (even short-term) with a patient with pneumonic plague, prophylaxis with the use of antibiotics is necessary. Duration of admission is up to 5 days. Twice a day, a person is injected with 0.5 g of streptomycin. If the doctor prescribes monomycin, this drug is administered 2 times a day into the muscle at a dose of 0.5 g. Emergency prophylaxis can be carried out with tetracycline antibiotics.

Prevention and treatment of pneumonic plague

If pneumonic plague is suspected, the patient must be isolated; during treatment, he is also kept separately from other patients. In addition to antibiotic therapy, the fight against intoxication, cardiovascular complications and is also relevant.

A special vaccine for the treatment of pneumonic plague is prepared from heat-killed plague pathogens. With its help, they create the necessary immunity from the disease, introducing 3 times at intervals of 2 weeks. Further, in order to maintain immunity, revaccination is carried out every 24 months. There is also a live dry plague vaccine, which is administered once. It provides immunity for up to 6 months. Under the most unfavorable epidemic conditions, after 6 months, you should be revaccinated (re-introduce the vaccine).

pneumonic plague - serious disease, dangerous for the infected person, his relatives and immediate environment. The disease is spread by airborne droplets and through the bites of infected insects. Anyone can become infected with pneumonic plague, regardless of gender, age or social status.

Reasons for the appearance

The main culprit of the disease is the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis. Carriers of a harmful microbe can be:

• Pets
• Wild animals
• rodents
• Blood-sucking insects.

An infected person poses a danger to the people around him, so he must be isolated. Bacteria enter the body by inhaling contaminated air through damaged skin.

At the initial stage, according to the symptoms, pneumonic plague can be confused with lobular pneumonia. The focus of infection grows very quickly. The largest part of the bacteria is concentrated in the lung cells - the alveoli.

General symptoms

On the first day, the patient may think that he has a severe cold or flu. The disease at this time manifests itself:

• Elevated temperature (up to 40-41 degrees)
• muscle pain
• chills
• Nausea
• vomit
• General weakness.

After a few hours, other symptoms may appear: it becomes difficult to breathe, severe pain in the chest, there is a lack of air. An ambulance doctor, when listening to a patient, will not detect wheezing.

After another day, more unpleasant symptoms will be added. The patient has a severe cough with purulent sputum. After a few hours, sputum becomes more, blood appears in it.

This form of the disease can lead to death of the patient. People at this stage are brought to the hospital in a state of shock or respiratory failure. Doctors have a day to carry out emergency treatment and save a person.

How the disease is diagnosed

Yersinia pestis bacterium

It is very difficult to identify pneumonic plague because there are no specific symptoms specific to it. Patients who have symptoms of a severe cough with hemoptysis or severe intoxication are immediately isolated and a special examination is carried out.

The first thing the attending physician will do is luminescent-serological diagnostics. This is a blood test for the sensitivity of human antibodies to the pathogen. The analysis is effective when an infected person has mild form pneumonic plague.

The next step of the attending physician will be to study the blood serum for a reaction with a plague bacteriophage. The patient's blood is taken. The laboratory assistant carries out the sampling in a special anti-plague suit. The bacteriophage is placed in the blood serum. If a pathogen is present in the serum, the bacteriophage gives a reaction within 2 hours and doctors immediately begin intensive care.

Treatment Methods

Even a severe form of pneumonic plague is treatable. Therapy is carried out in two directions - the destruction of the pathogen and the elimination of associated symptoms.

Etiotropic treatment

A mild form of the disease is treated with etiotropic therapy. This is the name of the treatment aimed at eliminating the plague bacillus. The main weapon of such therapy is antibacterial drugs. The most effective anti-plague drugs are:

• Trimoxazole

Doxycycline is a drug that destroys the protein coat of the plague bacillus. Apply the drug twice a day. If you are intolerant to doxycycline, your doctor may prescribe chloramphenicol.

Chloramphenicol or Levomycetin has both bacteriostatic and antibacterial effects. This means that the drug kills weak individuals and does not allow surviving microbes to multiply.

Trimoxazole and Streptomycin are effective against many gram-negative bacteria, including plague bacillus. In order for the treatment to give the desired result, the duration of taking the drugs should be at least 10 days. The mild form of the disease is intensive care within 5-6 days.

Elimination of accompanying symptoms

So that a severe form of the disease does not give serious complications, in addition to antibacterial agents, doctors may prescribe detoxification agents. The most effective are:

• Reopoliglyukin
• 5% glucose solution
• Ringer-Locke solutions Trisol and Quartasol.

The drugs are administered to the patient in a jet way. They help normalize arterial pressure and pulse. If it is necessary to prevent the development of acute heart failure, these solutions are administered by drip.

In cases of failure of such treatment and further development of vascular disorders, the doctor may prescribe catecholamines and glucocorticosteroids. The mixture of these drugs is poured into the patient very quickly (40-60 drops per minute), until the acute vascular disorder is completely eliminated.

Discharge of people who have had pneumonic plague occurs after the complete disappearance of all symptoms. The first criterion for a person's recovery is a normal x-ray of the lungs and the absence of elevated temperature within 40 days.

Even if a person does not have symptoms of the disease, the doctor conducts a study for the presence of bacteria in the sputum or mucus from the patient's throat. This analysis is carried out three times. If all 3 analyzes show a negative result, the patient is discharged.

Preventive measures

The most important preventive measure that every person must undergo is vaccination. It protects against pneumonic plague for up to 5 months. This measure especially applies to people traveling to countries where epidemics often occur. The leaders in the number of epidemics of pneumonic plague are:

• Bolivia
• Ecuador
• Vietnam
• Turkmenistan
• Thailand.

If symptoms have already appeared, to localize the disease, the infected person is immediately isolated. Medical workers bypass the closest relatives and neighbors of the patient, in order to prevent the epidemic. All people with any manifestations of the disease are diagnosed. If they have been in contact with an infected person, they will have to stay in a special provisional hospital for 6 days.

All personal belongings of a plague patient must be disposed of or treated with disinfectant solutions. Quarantine is introduced in the area where the patient lives.

Even a mild form of the plague can be dangerous. If the first symptoms occur, you should immediately consult a doctor. The sooner treatment begins, the greater the chance of salvation.