Typhus fever
Typhus fevers are a group of diseases caused by bacteria that are spread to humans by fleas, lice, and chiggers.
Types[edit | edit source]
Typhus fevers include scrub typhus, murine typhus, and epidemic typhus.
Epidemic typhus[edit | edit source]
- Epidemic typhus is also called louse-borne typhus.
- It 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.
- Occasionally, cases continue to occur, in areas where extreme overcrowding is common and body lice can travel from one person to another.
- In the United States, rare cases of epidemic typhus, called sylvatic typhus, can occur. These cases occur when people are exposed to flying squirrels and their nests
Scrub typhus[edit | edit source]
- Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by a bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi.
- Scrub typhus is spread to people through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).
- The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches, and sometimes rash.
- Most cases of scrub typhus occur in rural areas of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China, Japan, India, and northern Australia.
- Anyone living in or traveling to areas where scrub typhus is found could get infected.
Flea-borne (murine) typhus[edit | edit source]
- Flea-borne (murine) typhus, is a disease caused by a bacteria called Rickettsia typhi.
- Flea-borne typhus is spread to people through contact with infected fleas.
- Fleas become infected when they bite infected animals, such as rats, cats, or opossums.
- When an infected flea bites a person or animal, the bite breaks the skin, causing a wound.
- Fleas poop when they feed.
- The poop (also called flea dirt) can then be rubbed into the bite wound or other wounds causing infection.
- People can also breathe in infected flea dirt or rub it into their eyes.
- This bacteria is not spread from person to person.
- Flea-borne typhus occurs in tropical and subtropical climates around the world including areas of the United States (southern California, Hawaii, and Texas).
- Flea-borne typhus is a rare disease in the United States.
Transmission[edit | edit source]
Chiggers spread scrub typhus, fleas spread murine typhus, and body lice spread epidemic typhus.
Symptoms[edit | edit source]
The most common symptoms are fever, headaches, and sometimes rash.
Also see[edit | edit source]
Typhus fever Resources | |
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