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Complications

By Mayo Clinic staff

Complications of plague may include:

  • Gangrene of your fingers and toes resulting from clots in the small blood vessels of your extremities
  • Severe shock
  • Sudden, severe lung failure (acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS)
  • Bloodstream infection (septicemia)
  • Inflammation of the membranes and fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord (meningitis)
  • Death

With prompt treatment, the overall fatality rate from plague is less than 15 percent. Without treatment, mortality rates can be as high as 60 percent for bubonic plague and 100 percent for pneumonic plague. Death can occur within days after symptoms first appear if treatment doesn't begin promptly.

DS00493

Aug. 30, 2008

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