|
|
Article: Flying squirrel-associated typhus, United States.(Dispatches)
- Article from:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Article date:
- October 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
In March 2002, typhus fever was diagnosed in two patients residing in West Virginia and Georgia. Both patients were hospitalized with severe febrile illnesses, and both had been recently exposed to or had physical contact with flying squirrels or flying squirrel nests. Laboratory results indicated Rickettsia prowazekii infection.
**********
Typhus fever from Rickettsia prowazekii infection is a severe and occasionally fatal disease in humans. Frequently referred to as epidemic typhus or louse-borne typhus, this disease can cause large epidemics when conditions are favorable for person-to-person spread of body lice (Pediculus humanus humanus). For the ...