Typhus

Typhus refers to a group of infectious diseases caused mainly by Rickettsia prowazekii (epidemic typhus), Rickettsia typhi (murine typhus), and Orientia tsutsugamushi (scrub typhus). 

                            

Among these, epidemic typhus has had major historical impact.

The first unmistakable accounts of epidemic typhus date to the 1489 siege of Granada (Spanish War against Moors)

Typhus became notorious as a “camp fever” or “jail fever”.

Major outbreaks:

• Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) – Typhus killed more soldiers than combat.

• Irish Famine and English prisons – Overcrowding spread lice, the disease vector.

• Napoleonic Wars:

• During Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia, epidemic typhus killed hundreds of thousands, contributing significantly to the collapse of his army.

                                                           Typhus Defeats Napoleon 

Charles Nicolle demonstrated that typhus is transmitted by the body louse (Pediculus humanus corporis). This earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1928).

                                                                               Snapshot 

                                                                  Typhus Defeats Napoleon