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ensure accuracy. Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to
Health in the United States Bubonic plague, the most common form
of the disease, is acquired directly from the bite of an
infected flea. Other, less common forms of plague include
pneumonic, which can develop from the bubonic form and is spread
directly from person to person by the respiratory route;
septicemic; and meningeal, or plague meningitis. Bubonic plague
derives its name from the characteristic swollen lymph nodes
(called buboes) in the groin, axilla, and neck areas. Untreated
bubonic plague is fatal in half of all cases; untreated
pneumonic plague is invariably fatal. Plague is probably best
known because of its role in the Black Death (so called because
of the gangrenous extremities often seen in those with advanced
disease), a devastating pandemic that swept t