How Did Typhus Spread
Revisionists have generally not been aware of the importance of water contamination except for typhoid.
How did typhus spread. Typhus is caused by bacteria transmitted by flea mite louse or tick bites. Typhus was also common in prisons and in crowded conditions where lice spread easily where it was known as gaol fever or jail fever. During 1930 through the 1940s thousands of cases of flea borne typhus were reported annually. The diseases are caused by specific types of bacterial infection.
Epidemic typhus is due to rickettsia prowazekii spread by body lice scrub typhus is due to orientia tsutsugamushi spread by chiggers and murine typhus is due to rickettsia typhi spread by fle. Learn more about the symptoms causes diagnosis and treatment of typhus. Common symptoms include fever headache and a rash. Scratching the bite opens the skin and allows bacteria to enter the bloodstream.
The infection rate is found to be higher in cases of poor personal hygiene lack of access to clean clothing and overcrowding which can spread epidemic typhus through physical contact. Beginning in the 1950s cases of flea borne typhus began to decline drastically in part due to widespread advances in sanitation and pest management. The most important form of typhus has been epidemic typhus borne by lice. Gaol fever often occurs when prisoners are frequently huddled together in dark filthy rooms.
Epidemic typhus is spread to people through contact with infected body lice. The insects are carried person to person or are brought to people by rodents cattle and other animals. Flea borne murine typhus was a nationally notifiable disease from 1930 until 1987. Typhus also known as typhus fever is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus scrub typhus and murine typhus.
Other forms are murine or endemic typhus flea borne. About typhus the disease in the l a. Though epidemic typhus was responsible for millions of deaths in previous centuries it is now considered a rare disease. Diarrhea and dysentery as well as typhoid are all spread through contaminated water.
Scrub typhus or tsutsugamushi disease mite borne. Epidemic typhus can spread by direct contact and through transmission from infected bed linens clothing and other items of personal use. Those feces have bacteria called rickettsia. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure.