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Pneumonic plague

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Geoffrey Brent

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Oct 21, 1994, 9:01:00 PM10/21/94
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Back when we were discussing this thread, someone (Lothar ?) suggested
that we picture something like AIDS, but contagious through the air and
fatal in a few days.

I don't have figures for just _how_ contagious the pneumonic plague is.
Still, I can suggest a modern-day comparison : the Ebola virus and
related virii. (Oh, I hate pluralising those words. Did I get it right
?)

Ebola is spread through the air, although it is much more contagious by
direct contact. The survival rate is something like 10% (yes, _survival_
rate, with medical care.) It takes roughly a week to incubate and kills
within a few days afterwards, in a rather gruesome manner that also
makes a last-stages sufferer very infectious. Does anyone have any
figures of relative contagiousness between this and pneumonic plague ?

--
Geoffrey the Quiet (gbr...@rsc.anu.edu.au)

LukeMingst

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Oct 22, 1994, 4:42:02 PM10/22/94
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I haven't been following this thread but I do remember reading somewhere
long ago a statement that Pneumatic Plague (sp?) had a 98% death rate in
the middle ages. I have no idea what the rate is for those who have
gotten up-to-date medical attention now-a-days.

Just my two cents.

Vlasta Ulvaeus
Vinhold, Mists, West


Bryan J. Maloney

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Oct 23, 1994, 4:45:29 PM10/23/94
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In article <aace...@nudity.UUCP> vn...@nudity.UUCP (David W. James) writes:
>>Ebola is spread through the air, although it is much more contagious by
>>direct contact. The survival rate is something like 10% (yes, _survival_
>>rate, with medical care.) It takes roughly a week to incubate and kills
>>within a few days afterwards, in a rather gruesome manner that also
>>makes a last-stages sufferer very infectious. Does anyone have any
>>figures of relative contagiousness between this and pneumonic plague ?
>> Geoffrey the Quiet (gbr...@rsc.anu.edu.au)


Okay ebola, dengue, and rift valley fever viruses are all very nasty things.
I don't have actual numbers, but I can point you to a very recent case
history for comparison with pneumonic plague:

Were you aware that pneumonic plague appeared in India this month?

I'm sure you can find data on how things went.

Anyway, Y. pestis epidemic, even pneumonic, doesn't seem to be as potentially
catastrophic as any of the Level IV viruses mentioned above.


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