HWN Suggests

Typhus, War, and Vaccines

War is difficult on everyone, from the soldiers risking their lives to the civilians who get caught up in these violent affairs. While larger armies and more advanced weapons can aid in victory, an often overlooked variable in war chooses no allegiance: disease. One of the most devastating diseases throughout history during wartime has been typhus. Typhus is a bacterial disease caused by Rickettsia bacteria. There are two types of the disease--endemic typhus and epidemic typhus. Rickettsia typhi causes endemic typhus, also known as murine typhus, and is the least virulent. Spread to humans by fleas on animals such as cats, opossums, raccoons, and rats, most notably from the Norway rat victims…

read full article

Articles of Interest

How Scientists Created A Typhus Vaccine In A 'Fantastic Laboratory'

People originally thought it was because of the bite, because the louse sticks a little needle into you to extract your blood. But it turns out that the mouth of the louse is actually sterile. And what happens is that as the louse bites you, it excretes, and you scratch because it itches. And when you scratch, you're sort of inoculating yourself with the bacteria that are in the louse poop, as it were.

Typhus (epidemic, murine and other rickettsial diseases) fact sheet

Typhus is a term used to describe infections by several types of rickettsial bacteria. Rickettsiae are a diverse group of bacteria some of which can be transmitted to humans by ectoparasites such as fleas, lice, ticks or mites.

Typhus and Other Rickettsial Diseases

Rickettsial diseases are caused by multiple bacteria known as ‘rickettsiae’. They are classically divided into the spotted fever group and typhus group; and the typhus group can be further categorised into scrub typhus, urban typhus, and epidemic typhus. In Hong Kong, scrub typhus and spotted fever are the most common types of rickettsial diseases, followed by urban typhus, while epidemic typhus has not been reported locally in the past few decades.

What's The Difference Between Typhus And Typhoid?

If you find yourself sick with flu-like symptoms, fever and chills, abdominal pain, a rash, and severe confusion, you might have typhus. Or is it typhoid? No wonder you're feeling confused. Until the mid-1800s, doctors didn't even realize these were two different diseases, because the symptoms -- and the conditions that spawned outbreaks -- looked so similar.

Resources

CDC

Typhus fevers are a group of diseases caused by bacteria that are spread to humans by fleas, lice, and chiggers. Typhus fevers include scrub typhus, murine typhus, and epidemic typhus. Chiggers spread scrub typhus, fleas spread murine typhus, and body lice spread epidemic typhus. The most common symptoms are fever, headaches, and sometimes rash.

U.S. Typhus Commission

menu Historical Expeditions 40th Parallel Expedition Byrd Antarctic Expedition California Geological Survey Cinchona Missions Colorado Exploring Expedition (Ives Expedition) Death Valley Expedition First Voyage of Captain James Cook Fremont Expedition Harriman Expedition Hassler Expedition Hayden U.S. Geological Survey, 1872 Hayden's US Geological Survey - Colorado International Boundary Commission J. W. Powell Colorado Exploring Expedition, 1868 J.W. Powell Survey La Plata Expedition Macomb's San Juan Exploring Expedition Mexican Boundary Survey Nicollet Expedition Peary's Expedition to Greenland Smithsonian African Expedition Stevens Pacific Railroad Survey U.S. North Pacific Exploring Expedition U.S. Typhus Commission Western Union Extension Telegraph Exploring Expedition Whipple Pacific Railroad Survey Whitney Expedition Williamson Pacific Railroad Survey Breadcrumb Home Our Research Botany About Historical Expeditions U.S. Typhus Commission United States of America Typhus Commission (USATC) (1942-1945) Soldiers have enough of a battle fighting enemies they can see, but during World War II, an unseen foe plagued many. The frequent movement of troops and specific types of botanical environments led to a rapid spread of Typhus – a disease transmitted to humans by mites infected with the micro-organism Rickettsia. On December 8, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt released Executive Order 9285 creating the United States of America Typhus Commission (USATC) “for the purpose of protecting the members of the armed forces from typhus’ fever” and to “arrange for the analysis, study and publication of scientific data obtained in [the] field.”