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Rickettsia typhi is a small, gram-negative intracellular bacterium that establishes the murine typhus infection in mammals and fleas. [30] Murine typhus was once one of the most prevalent rickettsial diseases in the world, [8] [9] [10] having isolated the R. typhi causative agent from nearly every continent around the globe except for Antarctica.
Shigellosis, known historically as dysentery, is an infection of the intestines caused by Shigella bacteria. [1] [3] Symptoms generally start one to two days after exposure and include diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and feeling the need to pass stools even when the bowels are empty. [1]
The American Public Health Association recommends treatment based upon clinical findings and before culturing confirms the diagnosis. [18] Without treatment, death may occur in 10% to 60% of people with epidemic typhus, with people over age 50 having the highest risk of death. [19] In the antibiotic era, death is uncommon if doxycycline is given.
However, scrub typhus is still considered a rickettsiosis, even though the causative organism has been reclassified from Rickettsia tsutsugamushi to Orientia tsutsugamushi. [ citation needed ] Examples of rickettsioses include typhus , both endemic and epidemic, Rocky Mountain spotted fever , and Rickettsialpox .
Rickettsia is a genus of nonmotile, gram-negative, nonspore-forming, highly pleomorphic bacteria that may occur in the forms of cocci (0.1 μm in diameter), bacilli (1–4 μm long), or threads (up to about 10 μm long).
It is caused by the bacterium Rickettsia typhi, and is transmitted by the fleas that infest rats. While rat fleas are the most common vectors, cat fleas and mouse fleas are less common modes of transmission. These fleas are not affected by the infection. Human infection occurs because of flea-fecal contamination of the bites on human skin.
With correct treatment, most cases of amoebic and bacterial dysentery subside within 10 days, and most individuals achieve a full recovery within two to four weeks after beginning proper treatment. If the disease is left untreated, the prognosis varies with the immune status of the individual patient and the severity of disease.
Without treatment, the disease is often fatal. Since the use of antibiotics, case fatalities have decreased from 4–40% to less than 2%. [citation needed] The drug most commonly used is doxycycline or tetracycline, but chloramphenicol is an alternative. Strains that are resistant to doxycycline and chloramphenicol have been reported in ...