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Plague is a serious bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. Plague comes in two clinical forms: bubonic and pneumonic. Plague is a zoonosis whose natural reservoir is rodents, particularly rats. Because the end stages of this virulent disease often involves hemorrhaging and tissue death (necrosis), turning parts of the body black, the plague is sometimes referred to as the 'Black Death'.
Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium belonging to the Family Enterobacteriaceae.
Symptoms/Pathogenesis