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Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition

Bubonic plague vaccine

by John M. Theilmann, , Ph.D.

Category: Prevention

Definition

The bubonic plague vaccine is used to prevent infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which causes plague.

Early Developments

In 1897, Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine developed the first effective plague vaccine, a bacterial suspension of killed Y. pestis that was injected as a preventive, during a plague epidemic in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. The Haffkine vaccine was not perfect, but it led to a drop in plague mortality by 20 to 30 percent. However, it had numerous unpleasant side effects.

In the 1930’s, scientists in Madagascar and Java produced a vaccine based on a live attenuated strain of Y. pestis. Both vaccines continued to be used; the United States relied on the Haffkine vaccine while the French, Russians, and Chinese relied on the attenuated strain for vaccination.

Both the Haffkine and the EV (from the initials of the person from whose body it was isolated) attenuated vaccines have problems. Neither provides full protection against bubonic or pneumonic plague. Both have unpleasant side effects (and can be fatal), although recent techniques for administration have decreased these side effects. Both require several booster shots to be effective.

U.S. health officials discontinued administering plague vaccine in 1999 except in special cases. The EV vaccine has shown potential to be lethal in laboratory animals, calling its use into question in countries that had adopted it.

New Generation Vaccines

Because of difficulties with both early vaccines, scientists have been trying to find vaccines that overcome the health problems of the earlier vaccines, that are easier to administer, and that convey immunity against pneumonic plague too. Because pneumonic plague (unlike bubonic plague) is difficult to treat with antibiotics, scientists consider essential the development of a vaccine that is effective against both types of plague.

Most work has concentrated on developing subunit and live attenuated vaccines. A subunit vaccine (using subunits of the bacteria) in development was effective against both bubonic and pneumonic plague. This vaccine is based on the F1 and V antigens, both of which induce protective responses in persons. When combined, these proteins have shown an additional protective effect.

Other work is concentrating on developing a vaccine using attenuated forms of the bacteria. It is expected that this form of the vaccine, essentially a fourth generation form, will provide greater protection against Y. pestis than the subunit form.

Impact

Plague vaccines have always been considered effective in dealing with the plague because they prevent the disease rather than, like antibiotics, simply treat it. The first and second generation vaccines helped to reduce plague deaths, but they had several problems, and their use has largely been discontinued. Finally, because some strains of plague have developed antibiotic resistance, it is crucial to develop newer and more effective forms of plague vaccine.

Further Reading

1 

Cornelius, C., et al. “Protective Immunity Against Plague.” In The Genus “Yersinia,” edited by Robert D. Perry and Jacqueline D. Featherstone. New York: Springer Science, 2007.

2 

Gregg, Charles T., Plague. Rev. ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985.

3 

Mandell, Gerald L., John E. Bennett, and Raphael Dolin, eds. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. New York: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier, 2010.

4 

Marquardt, William C., ed. Biology of Disease Vectors. 2d ed. New York: Academic Press/Elsevier, 2005.

5 

Plotkin, Stanley A., Walter A. Orenstein, and Paul A. Offit. Vaccines. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders/Elsevier, 2008.

6 

Titball, Richard W., and E. Diane Williamson. “Vaccination Against Bubonic and Pneumonic Plague.” Vaccine 19 (2001): 4175-4184.

Web Sites of Interest

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague

World Health Organization

http://www.who.int/topics/plague

See also: Arthropod-borne illness and disease; Bacterial infections; Bubonic plague; Developing countries and infectious disease; Fleas and infectious disease; Lassa fever; Lyme disease; Lymphadenitis; Plague; Respiratory route of transmission; Rodents and infectious disease; Vaccines: Types; Vectors and vector control; Yersinia; Yersiniosis; Zoonotic diseases.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Theilmann, John M. "Bubonic Plague Vaccine." Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition, edited by H. Bradford Hawley, Salem Press, 2020. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Infect2e_0093.
APA 7th
Theilmann, J. M. (2020). Bubonic plague vaccine. In H. B. Hawley (Ed.), Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Theilmann, John M. "Bubonic Plague Vaccine." Edited by H. Bradford Hawley. Salem Health: Infectious Diseases & Conditions, 2nd Edition. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2020. Accessed September 16, 2025. online.salempress.com.