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Abstract
Plague still poses a significant threat to human health, and interest has been renewed recently in
the possible use of Yersinia pestis as a biological weapon by terrorists. The septicaemic and pneumonic
forms are always lethal if untreated. Attempts to treat this deadly disease date back to the era of
global pandemics, when various methods were explored. The successful isolation of the plague pathogen
led to the beginning of more scientific approaches to the treatment and cure of plague. This subsequently
led to specific antibiotic prophylaxis and therapy for Y. pestis. The use of antibiotics such as
tetracycline and streptomycin for the treatment of plague has been embraced by the World Health
Organization Expert Committee on Plague as the 'gold standard' treatment. However, concerns
regarding the development of antibiotic-resistant Y. pestis strains have led to the exploration
of alternatives to antibiotics. Several investigators have looked into the use of alternatives,
such as immunotherapy, non-pathogen-specific immunomodulatory therapy, phage therapy, bacteriocin
therapy, and treatment with inhibitors of virulence factors. The alternative therapies reported in
this review should be further investigated by comprehensive studies of their clinical application
for the treatment of plague. |
