Typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. 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 fleas. Vaccines have been developed, but none are commercially available. Prevention is achieved by reducing exposure to the organisms that spread the disease. Treatment is with the antibiotic doxycycline. Epidemic typhus generally occurs in outbreaks when poor sanitary conditions and crowding are present. While once common, it is now rare. Scrub typhus occurs in Southeast Asia, Japan, and northern Australia. Murine typhus occurs in tropical and subtropical areas ...
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Orientia Tsutsugamushi
''Orientia tsutsugamushi'' (from Japanese ''tsutsuga'' meaning "illness", and ''mushi'' meaning "insect") is a mite-borne bacterium belonging to the family Rickettsiaceae and is responsible for a disease called scrub typhus in humans. It is a natural and an obligate intracellular parasite of mites belonging to the family Trombiculidae. With a genome of only 2.0–2.7 Mb, it has the most repeated DNA sequences among bacterial genomes sequenced so far. The disease, scrub typhus, occurs when infected mite larvae accidentally bite humans. Primarily indicated by undifferentiated febrile illnesses, the infection can be complicated and often fatal. ''Orientia tsutsugamushi'' infection was first reported in Japan by Hakuju Hashimoto in 1810, and to the Western world by Theobald Adrian Palm in 1878. Naosuke Hayashi first described it i