TyphusAmanda Ferraro

A typhus patient would displayCharacteristic Rash Fever

Typhus patients exhibit a characteristic stupor.

The name “typhus” comes from the Greek word for stupor

typhos (τῦφος)

Doctors test for anemia, low platelets, and typhus antibodies

There are three types of TyphusEndemicScrubEpidemic

The bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii causes Epidemic Typhus

Rickettsia prowazekii are intracellular parasites.

Rickettsia prowazekii share a common ancestor with mitochondriaRickettsia prowazekii Mitochondria

How would I get Typhus?Sharing Contaminated ClothingBody Lice Feces

“Outbreaks of epidemic typhus are rare except during periods when normal hygiene is disrupted, as in refugee camps arising from wars or natural disasters. It also occurs in some populations living in higher elevations during the colder months when louse-infested clothing is not laundered and person-to-person spread of lice is common.”

Typhus epidemics raged throughout Europe for centuries, often caused by war

Typhus epidemics raged throughout Europe for centuries, often caused by war.

“Seventy percent of the 300,000 core troops that marched with Napoleon out of France died of typhus before reaching Moscow.”

There are still a few cases of Typhus is the US each year

The bacteria are “eaten” by the cell.

The bacteria destroy the cell

How do we treat someone with Typhus?

Rickettsia prowazekii are difficult to treat because they only replicate within host cells.

They are

OBLIGATE PARASITES

They use OUR cell machinery!

Doxycycline is used to treat Typhus

(Tetracycline Drug)

Doxycycline works by blocking protein synthesis

Why don’t tetracycline drugs interfere with our protein synthesis?

Doxycycline “preferentially binds to bacterial (30s) ribosomes due to structural differences in RNA subunits.”

Without these proteins, the bacteria cannot reproduce within the cell, and the cells eventually die or are killed off by the immune system.

Doxycycline is not very costly

The patient takes 2 doxycycline tablets per day for 10 days.

The patient takes 2 doxycycline tablets per day for 10 days.

COSTS ABOUT $2!

Chloramphenicol, a second line drug, also inhibits protein synthesis

Although chloramphenicol is cheap and easy to produce, it has potentially serious side effects.

Although it is cheap and easy to produce, it has potentially serious side effects.

Used mainly in cases of drug resistant bacteria.

Given the proper treatment, almost all patients recover.

Brill-Zinsser disease occurs when a previously ‘cured’ patient relapses.

More mild than the initial disease

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