This study was supported by funds from National Institutes of Health grant U54-AI057157 (Southeast

Regional Center www.selleckchem.com/products/GDC-0449.html for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases) to V. L. M. (project 006) and to the Animal Models and Flow, Biomarker and this website Imaging Cores of the Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence for Emerging Infections and Biodefense (to R. F. and G. D. S.). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. References 1. Zietz BP, Dunkelberg H: The history of the plague and the research on the causative agent Yersinia pestis. Int J Hyg Envir Heal 2004,207(2):165–178.CrossRef 2. Zhou D, Yang R: Molecular Darwinian evolution of virulence in Yersinia pestis. Infect Immun Nec-1s 2009,77(6):2242–2250.PubMedCrossRef 3. Perry RD, Fetherston JD: Yersinia pestis–etiologic agent of plague.

Clin Microbiol Rev 1997,10(1):35–66.PubMed 4. Anisimov AP, Amoako KK: Treatment of plague: promising alternatives to antibiotics. J Med Microbiol 2006,55(Pt 11):1461–1475.PubMedCrossRef 5. Gage KL, Kosoy MY: Natural history of plague: perspectives from more than a century of research. Annu Rev Entomol 2005, 50:505–528.PubMedCrossRef 6. Stenseth NC, Atshabar BB, Begon M, Belmain SR, Bertherat E, Carniel E, Gage KL, Leirs H, Rahalison L: Plague: past, present, and future. PLoS Med 2008,5(1):e3.PubMedCrossRef 7. Bitam I, Dittmar K, Parola P, Whiting MF, Raoult D: Fleas and flea-borne diseases. Int J Infect Dis 2010,14(8):e667-e676.PubMedCrossRef 8. Galimand M, Carniel E, Courvalin P: Resistance of Yersinia pestis to antimicrobial agents. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2006,50(10):3233–3236.PubMedCrossRef 9. Smiley ST: Immune

defense against pneumonic plague. Immunol Rev 2008, 225:256–271.PubMedCrossRef 10. Prentice MB, Rahalison L: Plague. Lancet 2007,369(9568):1196–1207.PubMedCrossRef 11. Wimsatt J, Biggins DE: A review of plague persistence with special emphasis on fleas. J Vec Born Dis 2009,46(2):85–99. 12. Marketon MM, DePaolo RW, DeBord KL, Jabri B, Schneewind O: Plague bacteria target immune cells during infection. Science (New York, NY) 2005,309(5741):1739–1741.CrossRef Erythromycin 13. DeLeo FR, Hinnebusch BJ: A plague upon the phagocytes. Nat Med 2005,11(9):927–928.PubMedCrossRef 14. Matsumoto H, Young GM: Translocated effectors of Yersinia. Curr Opin Microbiol 2009,12(1):94–100.PubMedCrossRef 15. Guinet F, Avé P, Jones L, Huerre M, Carniel E: Defective innate cell response and lymph node infiltration specify Yersinia pestis infection. PLoS One 2008,3(2):e1688.PubMedCrossRef 16. Sebbane F, Gardner D, Long D, Gowen BB, Hinnebusch BJ: Kinetics of disease progression and host response in a rat model of bubonic plague. Am J Pathol 2005,166(5):1427–1439.PubMedCrossRef 17. Massoud TF, Gambhir SS: Molecular imaging in living subjects: seeing fundamental biological processes in a new light. Genes Dev 2003,17(5):545–580.PubMedCrossRef 18.