The difference between typhus and endemic typhus

Typhus may be familiar to everyone, but you may only know it as a name, and may not be very clear about its symptoms and serious complications. One of them is endemic typhus. So what is endemic typhus? Let's look at the term first. We know that this is a regional disease. It is a typhoid fever caused by certain special factors in a certain area. It is different from other simple typhus caused by Salmonella typhi.

So what is so special about endemic typhus? Let us take a closer look at where this type of disease is likely to occur. When traveling on business or on vacation, we must be extra careful and pay attention to diet and personal hygiene. Is there any way to prevent it from spreading?

Endemic typhus, also known as murine typhus or flea-borne typhus, is an acute infectious disease caused by Rickettsia mowi and transmitted by rat fleas. Its clinical features are similar to those of epidemic typhus, but the disease is milder, the course is shorter, the rash is rarely hemorrhagic, and the mortality rate is also low. It is basically similar to epidemic typhus, but the vascular lesions are milder and thrombosis in small blood vessels is rare. In terms of treatment, 186 patients were reported in China (1985), 101 of whom were treated with doxycycline 200 mg at a time; 85 were treated with tetracycline 2 g daily (divided into 4 doses), with a course of 5 to 7 days. Results The rate of fever reduction within 2 days was 77% in the doxycycline group and 26% in the tetracycline group, with a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). The recurrence rate was 3.9% in the doxycycline group and 2.4% in the tetracycline group. This suggests that doxycycline is more effective than tetracycline. Recent reports show that fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and pefloxacin are also effective in treating this disease. There is also a view in China that antibiotics are unnecessary except for those diagnosed early or with comorbidities in whom doxycycline can be added. The patient's body temperature usually returns to normal within 1 to 3 days after the start of treatment, and the medication should be taken for another 3 to 4 days after the body temperature returns to normal.

Endemic typhus is also a common infectious disease. Everyone is susceptible to it. With current medical technology, the mortality rate of endemic typhus has dropped significantly. However, for infectious diseases, preventing the spread of the disease is a very important link. Endemic typhus is transmitted through rats, so we should take measures to exterminate and prevent rats to prevent the spread of the disease.