Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-tnzcf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T06:04:35.399Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Notes on typhus fevers in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

J. I. Roberts
J. I. Roberts
Affiliation:
Medical Research Laboratory, Nairobi
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

1. The history of a typical sanguineus-borne human case of typhus is given, together with the results of intraperitoneal inoculation of material from the initial lesion into guinea-pigs.

2. This material in the earlier inoculations caused a high mortality rate among guinea-pigs, and is characterized from the other material obtained from rats and fleas by the swing of temperatures between morning and evening.

3. Three cases of non-lesion typhus occurred in a brewery heavily infested with rats and fleas, the patients affirming they had been bitten only by fleas.

A high rat infestation was noted and a Xenopsylla index of 15·0 per rat.

4. Inoculation into guinea-pigs of emulsified brain and testicle material from Rattus rattus trapped at this typhus focus, and of emulsified fleas from the rats, resulted in the establishment of a strain of virus which produced a typhus-like syndrome in guinea-pigs.

5. Infection of guinea-pigs with strains of virus from rats, ticks and fleas, has been secured without any difficulty in Kenya, and it has not been found necessary to keep guinea-pigs on vitamin-deficient diets.

6. Typical scrotal reaction has been observed in the majority of guinea-pigs inoculated. The onset is generally sudden and coincides with the rise in temperature. Subsidence of the swelling and inflammation is gradual over about 3 days.

7. Loss in weight is not a marked feature of the forms of virus encountered in Kenya.

8. Post-mortem appearances in the rat-and flea-forms differ from those of the tick-type mainly in less ascites and slight enlargement of the spleen.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , July 1939, pp. 345 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1939

References

REFERENCES

Covell, G. (1936). Studies on typhus in the Simla Hills. Ind. J. med. Res. Parts I, II, III and IV, 23, 701–720; 921–927.Google Scholar
Lewthwaite, R. (1936). The pathology of the tropical typhus (Rural type) of the Federated Malay States. J. Path. Bact. 42, 23–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewthwaite, R. & Savoor, S. R. (1936). The typhus group of diseases in Malaya. Brit. J. exp. Path. Parts I, II, III and IV, 17, 1–34; 208–214.Google Scholar
Pijper, A. & Dau, H. (1935). South African typhus. J. Hyg., Camb., 35, 116–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, J. I. (1935). The ticks of rodents and their nests, and the discovery that Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latr., is the vector of tropical typhus in Kenya. J. Hyg., Camb., 35, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, J. I. & Tonking, H. (1933). A preliminary note on the vector of tropical typhus in Kenya. E. Afr. med. J. 9, 11.Google Scholar