<unk>  is a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Symptoms include fever, headache, shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing. They typically start about three to seven days after exposure. It is one of three forms of plague, the other two being septicemic plague and bubonic plague. The<unk>  form may occur following an initial bubonic or septicemic plague infection. It may also result from breathing in airborne droplets from another person or animal infected with<unk> . The difference between the forms of plague is the location of infection; in<unk>  the infection is in the lungs, in bubonic plague the lymph nodes, and in septicemic plague within the blood. Diagnosis is by testing the blood, sputum, or fluid from a lymph node. While vaccines are being developed, in most countries they are not yet commercially available. Prevention is by avoiding contact with infected rodents, people, or cats. It is recommended that those infected be isolated from others. Treatment of<unk>  is with antibiotics. Plague is present among rodents in Africa, the Americas, and Asia.<unk>  is more serious and less common than bubonic plague. The total reported number of cases of all types of plague in 2013 was 783. Left untreated,<unk>  is nearly always fatal. Some hypothesize that the<unk>  version of the plague was mainly responsible for the Black Death that resulted in approximately 75 - 200 million deaths in the 1300s.
Pneumonic plague
Hittite plague
Bubonic plague
Sylvatic plague
Urban plague
Metal fume fever
Malaria
Septicemic plague