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Epidemic typhus is a bacterial disease that can be fatal if left untreated. It is spread by lice and is most common in times of stress and deprivation. It can be prevented with vaccines and controlled by limiting lice populations. Typhus is also known as petechial fever and can recur as Brill-Zinsser disease.
Epidemic typhus is a bacterial disease that has been documented in human populations for over 1,000 years. Left untreated, typhoid can be fatal, and despite control measures, typhus outbreaks occur periodically in various regions of the world. Epidemic typhus is most commonly seen during times of stress, crowding, and deprivation, such as during wartime and refugee camps, where it can spread rapidly among people with weakened immune systems.
There are a number of alternative names for typhus, many of which refer to the conditions in which it thrives, such as famine fever, ship fever, prison fever, field fever, or hospital fever. This disease is also known as petechial fever, a nod to the characteristic rash associated with epidemic typhus and putrid fever.
This disease is caused by the bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii. The bacterium is ingested by lice, which in turn feed on people, leaving feces behind. When people scratch louse bites or touch a bite and then handle the mucous membranes around the eyes, the bacteria enters the body. Someone carrying the bacterium can pass it on to other people as the lice feed on the original patient’s body and spread the organism to new victims. In unclean conditions, typhus can easily move from person to person.
It can take one to two weeks for epidemic typhus to incubate in the body. Once the disease has broken out, it is characterized by very high fever and stupor; the term “typhoid” comes from the Greek word for “fog” or “fog,” which refers to the state of confusion and fogginess that patients enter. Patients also develop rashes, body aches, chills and headaches. They are often sensitive to light and become delirious.
Epidemic typhus is preventable with vaccines and can also be treated with antibiotic drugs. Additionally, control measures that limit lice populations can also reduce the risk of spreading typhus. If animals such as rats and squirrels that can sustain a population of lice are kept away from human habitation, this also limits the possibility of epidemic typhus taking hold.
Typhoid is a relapsing condition, meaning that it will recur in a patient after a long period of reasonably good health. Typhoid returns because the organisms are allowed to persist in the body, and when the patient’s immune system wanes, they can start reproducing again. When typhus comes back, it’s known as Brill-Zinsser disease.
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