Report on the typhus epidemic in Upper Silesia. 1848.

Emerging infectious diseases: a brief biographical heritage.

The concept that infectious (and other) diseases emerge and reemerge is not new, and neither is the search for causes of disease emergence. However, societies frequently overlook or forget that microbes evolve, adapt, and emerge in response to nonmicrobial and even nonbiologic changes in the physical and social environment. Sometimes we need to be rudely reminded of this lesson. Two scientists ...

Missing the forest for the trees in biomedical research: the example of noma.

Month after month passed after the outbreak of the epidemic, without the higher governmental authorities taking the least notice of its occurrence. Autumn had gone, winter was approaching and with it the spectres of hunger and cold—nothing was done. Finally, small sums of money were granted for direct distribution to the needy, but the red tape of the bureaucracy was such, even in this, that th...

Reemerging threat of epidemic typhus in Algeria.

We report a case of epidemic typhus in a patient from the Batna region of Algeria, who presented with generalized febrile exanthema. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by serological cross-adsorption followed by Western blotting. Our report emphasizes the threat of epidemic typhus in the highlands of Algeria.

Epidemic typhus imported from Algeria.

We report epidemic typhus in a French patient returning from Algeria. The diagnosis was confirmed by serologic testing and the isolation of Rickettsia prowazekii in blood. Initially the patient was thought to have typhoid fever. Because body lice are prevalent in industrialized regions, the introduction of typhus to pediculosis-endemic areas poses a serious public health risk.

EXTRACTS from appendix (A) to the Report of the General Board of Health on the Epidemic Cholera of 1848 & 1849(a).