Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Diagnosis | Case reports | Microscopic (histologic) description | Positive stainsCite this page: DePond WD. Yersinia pestis. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/lymphnodesyersiniapestis.html. Accessed January 17th, 2021.
Definition / general
- Similar to Y. pseudotuberculosis
Clinical features
- Infection is usually limited to lymph nodes ("bubo," as in bubonic plague) and is self limited
- Clinical picture may resemble acute appendicitis but laparotomy often shows mesenteric lymphadenitis (Pediatr Surg Int 1998;13:2)
- Pneumonic plague occurs if bacterial are aerosolized (eMedicine: Plague [Accessed 2 July 2018], Wikipedia: Bubonic Plague [Accessed 2 July 2018])
Diagnosis
- Gram stain: gram negative, polymorphic, coccoid or ovoid mobile bacteria
- PCR
- Cultures
Case reports
- 46 year old woman with weight loss and abdominal lymphadenopathy (Radiologe 1998;38:37)
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Capsular thickening and edema
- Immunoblasts and plasma cells in cortical and paracortical region
- Large lymphocytes within sinuses, germinal center hyperplasia
- No granulomas (unlike Y. pseudotuberculosis)
- Depletion of lymphocytes, edema, necrosis, foamy macrophages
- Bacteria may involve blood vessels
Positive stains
- Yersinia immunostain (Am J Clin Pathol 2002;117:205)
