Plague (Yersinia pestis)

Clinical criteria
Any person with at least one of the following clinical forms:
Bubonic plague:
- Fever
AND
- Sudden onset of painful lymphadenitis

Septicaemic plague:
- Fever

Pneumonic plague:
- Fever
AND
At least one of the following three:
- Cough
- Chest pain
- Haemoptysis

Laboratory criteria
At least one of the following three:
- Isolation of Yersinia pestis from a clinical specimen
- Detection of Yersinia pestis nucleic acid from a clinical specimen (F1 antigen)
- Yersinia pestis anti-F1 antigen specific antibody response

Epidemiological criteria
At least one of the following four epidemiological links:
- Human to human transmission
- Animal to human transmission
- Laboratory exposure (where there is a potential exposure to plague)
- Exposure to a common source

Case classification
A. Possible case
NA
B. Probable case
Any person meeting the clinical criteria and with an epidemiological link
C. Confirmed case
Any person meeting the laboratory criteria

Current as of: 7 March 2019