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Rickettsia typhi as Cause of Fatal Encephalitic Typhus in Hospitalized Patients, Hamburg, Germany, 1940–1944
- Source :
- Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 24, Iss 11, Pp 1982-1987 (2018), Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Clinical and histopathologic features of R. prowazekii and R. typhi typhus can be similar, so molecular analyses should be performed to distinguish the 2 pathogens.<br />We evaluated formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 7 patients who died with encephalitic typhus in Hamburg, Germany, during World War II. The archived specimens included only central nervous system tissues >70 years old that had been stored at room temperature. We demonstrated successful detection of Rickettsia typhi DNA by a nested qPCR specific to prsA in 2 patients. These results indicate that R. typhi infections contributed to typhus outbreaks during World War II. Immunohistochemical analyses of brain tissue specimens of R. typhi DNA–positive and –negative specimens showed perivascular B-cell accumulation. Around blood vessels, nodular cell accumulations consisted of CD4-positive and CD8-positive T cells and CD68-positive microglia and macrophages; neutrophils were found rarely. These findings are similar to those of previously reported R. prowazekii tissue specimen testing. Because R. typhi and R. prowazekii infections can be clinically and histopathologically similar, molecular analyses should be performed to distinguish the 2 pathogens.
- Subjects :
- Infectious Encephalitis
Male
0301 basic medicine
Pathology
typhus
World War II
Epidemiology
vector-borne infections
lcsh:Medicine
epidemic
Disease Outbreaks
0302 clinical medicine
Germany
rat
Rickettsia typhi
Rickettsia prowazekii
bacteria
Rickettsia typhi as Cause of Fatal Encephalitic Typhus in Hospitalized Patients, Germany, 1940–1944
body louse
biology
food and beverages
Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne
Immunohistochemistry
nested PCR
Infectious Diseases
Synopsis
Female
Encephalitis
Microbiology (medical)
medicine.medical_specialty
animal structures
030231 tropical medicine
T cells
endemic typhus
rickettsiosis
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
Murine typhus
lcsh:Infectious and parasitic diseases
03 medical and health sciences
fatality
medicine
Humans
lcsh:RC109-216
outbreak
business.industry
brain lesions
fungi
lcsh:R
hospitalized patients
typhus nodules
Outbreak
flea
CD8
biology.organism_classification
medicine.disease
bacterial infections and mycoses
CD4
030104 developmental biology
Rickettsiosis
encephalitic typhus
murine typhus
business
Nested polymerase chain reaction
Typhus
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10806059 and 10806040
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c2a9320455aeb23f2aee4d64e70d1ba5