Murine typhus (Endemic Flea-Borne Typhus Fever)

您如何獲得Murine typhus (Endemic Flea-Borne Typhus Fever)？

The germs (Rickettsia) that cause murine typhus are transmitted by infected fleas that are usually carried by rats and sometimes dogs and cats.  The infected fleas usually defecate when they bite, and the bacteria in their feces is then rubbed or scratched into the bite or cuts on a person’s skin. The infection is not transmitted directly from person to person.

易感性和抵抗力

Everyone is susceptible to endemic flea-borne typhus. One attack results in immunity to further infections with this bacteria.

有哪些症狀？

Flea-borne typhus illness is very similar to epidemic louse-borne typhus, but the symptoms and the illness are much milder. Symptoms include abdominal pain, backache, diarrhoea, a dull red rash that begins on the middle of the body and spreads, extremely high fever (which may last up to 2 weeks), dry cough, headache, joint and muscle pain, nausea, and vomiting. Usually, less than 1 percent of the cases will die if untreated, so endemic flea-borne typhus is rarely deadly.

預防措施

沒有疫苗或藥物可預防立克次氏體感染。最好的預防措施是避免老鼠出沒區域。正確使用驅蟲劑並進行自我檢查以消除跳蚤，將有助於降低風險。在職業上接觸過老鼠的旅行者（自然學家，地質學家，農業工人）應避免老鼠出沒的棲息地，使用驅蟲劑並穿防護服。

治療

Antibiotic treatment with doxycycline daily for 5-7 days and for an additional 2 days after the fever subsides usually cures the illness.

驗證

• 抗生素類

通常在哪裡發生？

引起跳蚤傳播斑疹傷寒的細菌（立克次氏體）在世界範圍內分佈廣泛，尤其是在熱帶和亞熱帶以及港口城市和沿海地區，老鼠數量眾多。全年在潮濕，熱帶環境中以及溫帶地區的夏季溫暖期間，都可以發現受跳蚤感染的老鼠。據報導，在亞洲，非洲，南歐和美國（夏威夷，加利福尼亞和德克薩斯州）的旅行者中都患有這種疾病。