Yersinia pestis One of the five bacterium I identified was Yersinia pestis. It is a gram negative rod and these are the tests that identified it (and the results of those tests): gram morphology (g-rod), oxidase (negative), lactose fermentation (negative), indole (negative), urease (negative), motility (negative), orthine dicarboxylase (negative). These tests were chosen as directed by my flow chart.
Discovery
During a plague epidemic in Hong Kong in 1894, Yersinia pestis was discovered by the French bacteriologist Alexander Yersin. A man by the name of Shibasaburo Kitasato and his team were already in Hong Kong studying the epidemic when Yersin arrived. While the team was examining the blood and organs of patients who had died from the epidemic, Yersin noticed that …show more content…
These buboes can grow to be the size of an egg. Other symptoms include headache, fever weakness, chills, and sometimes seizures. Left undtreated, gangrene will set in the extremeties. Patients must be promptly treated with antibiotics to avoid the bacteria being spread to other parts of the body. In treated cases, the mortality rate is 1-10%. This type of plague is most commonly spread by fleas. After being infected, a person will become ill within 2 to 6 days. Pneumonic plague symptoms include headache, fever, weakness, and quickly developing pneumonia accompanied by pain in the chest, violent cough, and shortness of breath. The skin of the infected person will turn blue. Untreated bubonic or septicemic plague may cause bacteria to spread to the lungs causing pneumonic plague. It can also be spread from person to person by cough droplets. When exposed through infected droplets in the air, a person will generally become ill within 1 to 3 days. The mortality rate for this type of plague is 100% if not treated within 24 hours of the first sign of
Discovery
During a plague epidemic in Hong Kong in 1894, Yersinia pestis was discovered by the French bacteriologist Alexander Yersin. A man by the name of Shibasaburo Kitasato and his team were already in Hong Kong studying the epidemic when Yersin arrived. While the team was examining the blood and organs of patients who had died from the epidemic, Yersin noticed that …show more content…
These buboes can grow to be the size of an egg. Other symptoms include headache, fever weakness, chills, and sometimes seizures. Left undtreated, gangrene will set in the extremeties. Patients must be promptly treated with antibiotics to avoid the bacteria being spread to other parts of the body. In treated cases, the mortality rate is 1-10%. This type of plague is most commonly spread by fleas. After being infected, a person will become ill within 2 to 6 days. Pneumonic plague symptoms include headache, fever, weakness, and quickly developing pneumonia accompanied by pain in the chest, violent cough, and shortness of breath. The skin of the infected person will turn blue. Untreated bubonic or septicemic plague may cause bacteria to spread to the lungs causing pneumonic plague. It can also be spread from person to person by cough droplets. When exposed through infected droplets in the air, a person will generally become ill within 1 to 3 days. The mortality rate for this type of plague is 100% if not treated within 24 hours of the first sign of