Before hygiene, insect abatement, and antibiotic treatment became prevalent, typhus had long been a scourge of civilizations. Caused by a rickettsial pathogen (Rickettsia prowazekii), the classic, epidemic form of typhus is transmitted by the human body louse Pediculus, and the pathogen is also carried along by infected rats and other rodents such as the flying squirrel. No longer considered a significant BW threat in the modern era, a number of biological warfare (BW) programs have investigated typhus as a weapon, including the United States (World War II) and the former Soviet Union. Typhus has had an especially dramatic impact upon warfare, at least before the antibiotic era. Dr. Ken Alibek, who was second in command of the former Soviet Union’s BW program, posits that Russia’s experience with typhus during World War I was a significant factor in its research as a weapon.
While occasionally seen in developing countries, primary epidemic typhus has not been seen in the industrialized world for decades. In the classic form of illness, R. prowazekii organisms multiply at the focus of the insect bite, and being parasites these bacteria grow within the cellular tissue. After the host’s cells rupture, organisms are released and migrate to the regional lymph nodes. Systemic infection follows, producing sudden onset of chills, fever, headache, and other influenza-like symptoms one to three weeks after the bite occurs, with rash (after several days) developing in full course (thus the name “spotted fever”). Stupor and delirium set in, with other serious complications such as gangrene. Left untreated, the death rate from epidemic typhus is approximately 10-50 percent, while administration of antibiotics such as tetracycline or chloramphenicol should bring about full recovery. As far as it is known, the most effective measures to prevent typhus have traditionally included insect abatement, the use of insecticides (particularly DDT), and rodent control. Although some have claimed that typhus vaccines contributed to the eradication of the disease from the developed world, it should be noted that no vaccine has really found widespread acceptance: Some have been considered ineffective, while others not approved due to safety concerns.
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