Rickettsia bacteria causes typhus, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Typhus causes an infected person to have a cough, pain in the joints, a rash, headaches, chills and very high fever, as high as 106 degrees Fahrenheit. Other types of typhus, such as Brill-Zinsser disease, murine and scrub, can have other symptoms. Murine, for example, can cause vomiting and stomach pain, and endemic typhus can cause delirium, severe headaches and muscle aches.
While it has been around for centuries, typhus can be treated. If left untreated, typhus can kill. During World War I, typhus is believed to have killed 3 million Russians, according to the JRank Science & Philosophy website.
Treatment
Typhus is caused by a bacterium, so the disease can be cured by oral antibiotics. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the treatment should begin quickly after symptoms are detected. "Treatment must be based on clinical suspicion and not be delayed pending results of laboratory tests," the CDC says. Without treatment, epidemic typhus has a mortality rate of between 10 percent and 60 percent, depending on conditions.
Doxycycline
The antibiotic doxycycline can slow the growth of bacteria, including Rickettsia. It also is used in the treatment of other diseases, but it is one of the main treatments for typhus. The drug can be harmful to unborn children if mothers take it during pregnancy, and it can decrease or eliminate birth control pills' effectiveness.
Tetracycline
Tetracycline is the most used antibiotic for typhus as well as cholera and pneumonia. It is taken as a pill. It may make you more sensitive to bright sunlight. Your skin can change color while using it, and you may feel nausea. In rare cases, it can cause vomiting and may turn eyes yellow. It may hinder proper breathing. These harsh side effects should be reported to a physician immediately.
Chloramphenicol
Chloramphenicol is the most dangerous of the three main antibiotic treatments for typhus because it can be toxic. It has been linked to leukemia when patients took it as children. It generally only is prescribed when other treatments can't be used or don't work.
Prevention
Typhus most often is caused by lice, according to the Centers for Disease Control, so a good preventative action is to clean any clothes worn in close proximity to possible contagion areas. Typhus frequently spreads in closely packed populations or in squalid conditions such as substandard prisons. If you discover lice, there are medications for baths as well as shampoos to kill the lice.
