Epidemic Typhus (Rickettsia prowazekii) in Massachusetts: Evidence of Infection

Abstract
All sickness arrives on wings and departs limpingly. — French proverbMassachusetts has been free of louse-borne typhus (epidemic typhus) for more than three decades. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the last known case of epidemic typhus in the United States was reported in 1950. The patient had contracted the disease in Mexico.1 The Centers' Virology Division of the Bureau of Laboratories described case histories of eight persons who had serologic reactions that indicated recent infection with Rickettsia prowazekii, the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus.2 The serum samples had been selected from specimens from 1575 persons . . .

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