Typhus

A bacteria by the name Orientia tsutsugamushi is what causes this. The term Tsutsuga in Japanese means illness and Mushi means insects, which is what scrub typhus means. This bacteria has many serotypes, which makes it fairly hard to make a vaccination or immunity. The reason why it is difficult, is because a human’s body can become immune to one of the serotypes and not the other, leaving room for infection in the other serotypes. The bacteria is transmitted to us through something called the chigger bite. The Chigger bite is when the mite bites the victim and spreads the toxins. A chigger is the larval stage of Leptotrombidium. The mite starts as an egg, then develops into larva, after the larva stage comes the nymph, and then the mite matures into an adult. When the mite bites into skin and releases digestive enzymes, which digests our cells. The symptoms of the disease is a scab on the skin from where the mite bite the skin, this is called an Eschar. Another symptom is coughing, body rashes, fever, chills, and a sharp painful headache. This disease can be diagnosed by blood count, liver function, ultrasounds of abdomen or chest x-rays. The way to treat scrub typhus is by taking an antibiotic by the name of Doxycycline, similar to the other forms of typhus. This treatment is given to adults and women that are not pregnant. Azithromycin are given to women bearing children, and children. To avoid this disease one should use mite repellent, cover…

Epidemic Typhus Typhus is a group of infectious disease caused by the bacteria rickettsiae. It is mostly characterized by a purple rash, headaches, fever, and usually delirium, and has historically been the cause of high death rates during wars and famines due to the issue of cleanliness that occurs. There are several forms, and they are all transmitted by things such as lice, ticks, mites, and rats. Specifically for epidemic typhus, humans are the most common hosts. Disease Background The first…

Murine typhus is a re-emerging rickettsial disease with a wide-prevalence, most typically in temperate to tropical seaboard regions. The disease manifests as a febrile illness with an acute onset and mild to severe morbidity, including severe encephalitis and fatalities. Its classic form is associated with a rat flea and rat cycle, although other ectoparasites and animal species are involved in the circulation of the etiologic agent, Rickettsia typhi. The disease was first described in 1913 in…

When most people hear of Typhus fever they may think of something out of the old wild west frontier while in fact Typhus fever has been dated back to The New World of the Spanish conquistadors of 1083. There has been much debate exactly where the disease first originated, but it has made most of its debuts in Europe and surrounding countries throughout the years. Typhus is most prevalent where there is famine, poverty, and war because of the overcrowding of people living together in rodent…

Man, my job is easy! Never in a hundred years is this all I thought I’d have to do. Literally, all I must do is ride around, bounce from human to human, and make their life miserable, it’s great! Sure, many people hate me, but it’s just all part of the job. The job of being the disease of Typhus has its perks and downfalls, but mostly just perks. All my recruits and myself ride around in lice and fleas making people’s lives miserable. I myself don’t always infect people, usually I just send some…

Orientia tsutsugamushi bacterium, the causeitive agent of Scrub Typhus disease. The pathogen is spread by some species of the family of Trombiculid mites; there are four defined stages in the life cycle of the mites, the egg, larva, nymph and adult stage. The larval stage (Chigger mite) is the only this stage that feeds on a host, thus transferring the O. tsutsugamushi bacterium to the human host. Nymphal and adult Trombiculid mites live in the soil and feed on the eggs of insects. Humans are an…

Eugene Lazowski was a polish medical doctor during the holocaust. He was considered a hero by the thousands of Jew he saved. In his earlier life before World War II he obtained a medical degree at Jozef Pilsudki University in Warsaw. During World War II Lazowski served in the Polish Army on a Red Cross and as a military doctor. Later, he secretly worked for the Polish Underground Army. Afterwards Lazowski returned to his wife and young daughter in Rozwadow. It was at Rozwadow that…

It ravaged through the streets of London. There are three types of Typhus, louse borne typhus, Murine Typhus, and Scrub Typhus. “It would take just one minor cut or sore for the typhus infected feces to enter the victim’s bloodstream, and soon high fever, delirium, and gangrenous sores would develop.” (Mabillard pg 1) Each different type is spread by bad hygiene, rats and fleas, or mites. Typhus happened to be a major problem among prisoners. Most of the people in jail would die before they…

During World War II a horrific event occurred in history known as the Holocaust. Jews all throughout Europe were condemned and persecuted by the Nazis. However, before facing their unjust death they were placed in concentration camps located in Germany. The Jews were exterminated in different ways at the camps. An abundance of Jews imprisoned in the concentration camps died from the diseases that were obtained in the camp due to lack of human necessities. These diseases were caused by severe…

being the only obstacle they had to endure at these prisons would be far from an understatement. The second issue, disease turned into an uncontrollable issue that just continued to spread. The problem increased as more people poured into such camps. The various people brought the varieties of diseases. The main disease that fled the concentration camps, typhus, spread though fleas. When bitten the flea leaves a bacteria behind. It then spreads to the bloodstream through the scratched wounds.…