Typhus
- Typhus is unrelated to both typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever
Typhus is the name for a number of diseases, caused by bacteria called Rickettsiae. These bacteria are parasites that cannot survive outside their host organism. Depending on the species the host organisms are, fleas (on rats), harvest mites (on several rodents and humans), or lice (on humans). It is an epidemic disease.
When the term is commonly used, it usually means endemic typhus, which is spread by lice. The name typhus comes from Greek, where it means smoky or hazy. This was the word used to describe the state of mind the patients are in.
Typhus can be treated with antibiotics.
Typhus Media
Charles Nicolle received the 1928 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus.
A US soldier is demonstrating DDT hand-spraying equipment. DDT was used to control the spread of typhus-carrying lice.
A Civilian Public Service worker distributes rat poison for typhus control in Gulfport, Mississippi, around 1945.
