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Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. [1] Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. [1] Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. [2] The diseases are caused by specific types of bacterial infection. [1]
However, overshadowing of the diagnosis is quite often as the clinical symptoms overlap with other infectious diseases such as dengue fever, paratyphoid, and pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO). If the eschar can be identified, it is quite diagnostic of scrub typhus, but this can be unreliable on dark skin, and moreover, the site of eschar which is ...
Diagnosis is made by any blood, bone marrow, or stool cultures and with the Widal test (demonstration of antibodies against Salmonella antigens O-somatic and H-flagellar). In epidemics and less wealthy countries, after excluding malaria , dysentery , or pneumonia , a therapeutic trial time with chloramphenicol is generally undertaken while ...
[28] [29] As these signs and symptoms are similar to those produced by other diseases, including other rickettsiae, murine typhus is difficult to diagnose clinically. [27] In addition to non-uniform and non-specific symptoms, there is a lack of diagnostic tests effective during the acute stages of the illness, leading to delayed appropriate ...
Murine typhus, also known as endemic typhus or flea-borne typhus, is a form of typhus transmitted by fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis), usually on rats, in contrast to epidemic typhus which is usually transmitted by lice. [1] [2] [3] Murine typhus is an under-recognized entity, as it is often confused with viral illnesses. Most people who are infected ...
The absence of definitive signs and symptoms combined with a general dependence upon serological tests make the differentiation of scrub typhus from other common febrile diseases such as murine typhus, typhoid fever and leptospirosis quite difficult. [62]
No rapid laboratory tests are available to diagnose rickettsial diseases early in the course of illness, and serologic assays usually take 10–12 days to become positive. Research is indicating that swabs of eschars may be used for molecular detection of rickettsial infections. [6] [7]
The Weil–Felix test is an agglutination test for the diagnosis of rickettsial infections. It was first described in 1916. By virtue of its long history and of its simplicity, it has been one of the most widely employed tests for rickettsia on a global scale, despite being superseded in many settings by more sensitive and specific diagnostic tests.