[Yersinia pestis pathogenesis and diagnostics].

Plague is an acute bacterial infection caused by Gram negative organism Yersinia pestis. This bacteria is subdivided into three classical biotypes: Orientalis, Medievalis and Antiqua. Plague is transmitted via flea vectors from rodents to humans and by respiratory droplets from animals to humans or humans to humans. This agent is on the top of the CDC list of "Critical Biological Agents"--category A. It appears to be a good candidate agent for a bioterrorist attack. Type III secretion (TTS) is a mechanism by which Y. pestis communicates with eukaryotic cells by injecting bacterial proteins across cellular membranes into the cytosol of these cells. These bacterial proteins take control of the host cells by hijacking their intracellular machinery. A laboratory diagnostics of plague is based on: staining techniques, culture on media, immunochromatography, hemagglutination, immunofluorescence, ELISA, phage tests and genetical techniques including: PCR, multiplex and nested PCR, real time PCR, VNTR, PFGE, ISBF and Microarray.