What does typhus look like?
Endemic typhus symptoms can include rash that begins on the body trunk and spreads, high fever, nausea, malaise, diarrhea, and vomiting. Epidemic typhus has similar but more severe symptoms, including bleeding into the skin, delirium, hypotension, and death.
What is epidemic louse-borne typhus?
Epidemic typhus, also called louse-borne typhus, is an uncommon disease caused by a bacteria called Rickettsia prowazekii. Epidemic typhus is spread to people through contact with infected body lice.
Where is epidemic typhus found?
Epidemic typhus fever occurs most commonly among people living in overcrowded unhygienic conditions, such as refugee camps or prisons. The disease also occurs in people living in the cool mountainous regions of Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
What is typhus fever caused by?
Typhus fevers are a group of diseases caused by bacteria that are spread to humans by fleas, lice, and chiggers. Typhus fevers include scrub typhus, murine typhus, and epidemic typhus. Chiggers spread scrub typhus, fleas spread murine typhus, and body lice spread epidemic typhus.
What was typhus fever?
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. The diseases are caused by specific types of bacterial infection.
Can typhus go away on its own?
You may have a fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and a stomachache. It usually goes away on its own in a few days, but some people might require a hospital stay.
Is typhus same as typhoid?
A microscopic view of typhoid fever bacteria. Photo by Getty Images. Typhus and typhoid fever have both been in the news as reported cases surface in Los Angeles. Although the names of these infections are almost identical—and their symptoms are very similar—they are completely different diseases.
What organs does typhus affect?
If left untreated, typhus can have serious effects on the body. Typhus causes inflamed blood vessels, which in turn can cause a dramatic drop in blood pressure as well as internal bleeding. Patients who suffer from typhus may also experience kidney failure or swelling of the liver and spleen.
Does typhus cause cough?
The symptoms of endemic typhuslast for 10 to 12 days and are very similar to the symptoms of epidemic typhus but are usually less severe. They include: dry cough. nausea and vomiting.
How does louse-borne typhus spread from person to person?
Epidemic Typhus. Epidemic typhus, also called louse-borne typhus, is an uncommon disease caused by a bacteria called Rickettsia prowazekii. Epidemic typhus is spread to people through contact with infected body lice. Though epidemic typhus was responsible for millions of deaths in previous centuries, it is now considered a rare disease.
How are lice infected with epidemic typhus fever?
Human body lice become infected when they feed on the blood of a person with epidemic typhus fever. Infected lice then pass infectious feces when they feed. People become infected when infected lice feces or crushed infected body lice are rubbed into small cuts on the skin, such as those caused by scratching the bite site.
What kind of disease is typhus and what causes it?
Epidemic Typhus. Epidemic typhus, also called louse-borne typhus, is an uncommon disease caused by a bacteria called Rickettsia prowazekii. Epidemic typhus is spread to people through contact with infected body lice.
How many people died in the typhus epidemic in Canada?
In Canada, the 1847 North American typhus epidemic killed more than 20,000 people, mainly Irish immigrants in fever sheds and other forms of quarantine, who had contracted the disease aboard coffin ships. As many as 900,000 deaths have been attributed to the typhus fever during the Crimean War in 1853-1856.