2024 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code A20

by

Plague

  • A20 should not be used for reimbursement purposes as there are multiple codes below it that contain a greater level of detail.
  • The 2024 edition of ICD-10-CM A20 became effective on October 1, 2023.
  • This is the American ICD-10-CM version of A20 – other international versions of ICD-10 A20 may differ.

Includes

  • infection due to Yersinia pestis

The following code(s) above A20 contain annotation back-references

 that may be applicable to A20:

  • A00-B99  Certain infectious and parasitic diseases

Clinical Information

  • A gram-negative bacterial infection caused by yersinia pestis. It is usually transmitted to humans from bites of infected rodent fleas. It is manifested as a bubonic, septicemic, or pneumonic plague. In bubonic plague, the lymph nodes adjacent to the site of the skin bite are infected and enlarged. In septicemic plague, the infection spreads directly through the bloodstream. In pneumonic plague, the infection spreads to the lungs either following bubonic plague, or by inhalation of infective droplets. If untreated, it may lead to death.
  • Acute infectious disease caused by yersinia pestis that affects humans, wild rodents, and their ectoparasites; bubonic plague is the most common form.
  • An acute infectious disease caused by yersinia pestis that affects humans, wild rodents, and their ectoparasites. This condition persists due to its firm entrenchment in sylvatic rodent-flea ecosystems throughout the world. Bubonic plague is the most common form.
  • An infectious disease
  • Plague is an infection caused by the bacterium yersinia pestis. The bacteria are found mainly in rats and in the fleas that feed on them. People and other animals can get plague from rat or flea bites. Historically, plague destroyed entire civilizations. In the 1300s, the “black death,” as it was called, killed approximately one-third of europe’s population. Today plague is uncommon. This is largely due to better living conditions and antibiotics. There are three forms of plague:
    • bubonic, which causes the tonsils, adenoids, spleen and thymus to become inflamed. Symptoms include fever, aches, chills and tender lymph glands
    • septicemic, in which bacteria multiply in the blood. It causes fever, chills, shock and bleeding under the skin or other organs
    • pneumonic, in which the bacteria enter the lungs and cause pneumonia. People with the infection can spread this form to others. This type could be a bioterror agent
    treatment for plague is a strong antibiotic. There is no vaccine for plague.

Code History

  • 2016 (effective 10/1/2015): New code (first year of non-draft ICD-10-CM)
  • 2017 (effective 10/1/2016): No change
  • 2018 (effective 10/1/2017): No change
  • 2019 (effective 10/1/2018): No change
  • 2020 (effective 10/1/2019): No change
  • 2021 (effective 10/1/2020): No change
  • 2022 (effective 10/1/2021): No change
  • 2023 (effective 10/1/2022): No change
  • 2024 (effective 10/1/2023): No change

Code annotations containing back-references to A20:

  • Type 1 Excludes: A28.2