Which plague form is primarily associated with respiratory symptoms and person-to-person transmission?

Which plague form is primarily associated with respiratory symptoms and person-to-person transmission?

• A. Bubonic plague
• B. Septicemic plague
• C. Pneumonic plague
• D. Cutaneous plague

Answer: (C)

Respiratory symptoms with the ability to spread directly between people point to pneumonic plague. This form involves infection of the lungs and is transmitted through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, allowing rapid person-to-person spread. The lung involvement explains the cough, chest pain, and potential blood-tinged sputum. By contrast, bubonic plague centers on swollen lymph nodes after a flea bite and is not primarily respiratory; septicemic plague is a bloodstream infection without the defining lung involvement; cutaneous plague presents as skin lesions from contact with infected material. So the form associated with respiratory symptoms and direct transmission is the pneumonic plague.

Respiratory symptoms with the ability to spread directly between people point to pneumonic plague. This form involves infection of the lungs and is transmitted through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, allowing rapid person-to-person spread. The lung involvement explains the cough, chest pain, and potential blood-tinged sputum. By contrast, bubonic plague centers on swollen lymph nodes after a flea bite and is not primarily respiratory; septicemic plague is a bloodstream infection without the defining lung involvement; cutaneous plague presents as skin lesions from contact with infected material. So the form associated with respiratory symptoms and direct transmission is the pneumonic plague.