Trench fever

Trench fever
Other namesWolhynia fever, shin bone fever, Meuse fever, His disease, and His–Werner disease
SpecialtyInfectious diseases, military medicine 
SymptomsFever
DurationFive days
CausesInfected insect bite
PreventionBody hygiene
MedicationTetracycline-group antibiotics
DeathsRare

Trench fever (also known as "five-day fever", "quintan fever" (Latin: febris quintana), and "urban trench fever"[1]) is a moderately serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Bartonella quintana and transmitted by body lice. From 1915 to 1918 between one-fifth and one-third of all British troops reported ill had trench fever while about one-fifth of ill German and Austrian troops had the disease.[2] The disease persists among the homeless.[3] Outbreaks have been documented, for example, in Seattle[4] and Baltimore in the United States among injecting drug users[5] and in Marseille, France,[4] and Burundi.[6]

Trench fever is also called Wolhynia fever, shin bone fever, Meuse fever, His disease, and His–Werner disease or Werner-His disease (after Wilhelm His Jr. and Heinrich Werner).[7]

  1. ^ Rapini, Ronald P.; Bolognia, Jean L.; Jorizzo, Joseph L. (2007). Dermatology: 2-Volume Set. St. Louis: Mosby. p. 1095. ISBN 978-1-4160-2999-1.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Justina was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Perloff, Sarah (17 January 2020). "Trench Fever". EMedicine.
  4. ^ a b Ohl, M. E.; Spach, D. H. (1 July 2000). "Bartonella quintana and Urban Trench Fever". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 31 (1): 131–135. doi:10.1086/313890. PMID 10913410.
  5. ^ Comer, James A. (25 November 1996). "Antibodies to Bartonella Species in Inner-city Intravenous Drug Users in Baltimore, Md". Archives of Internal Medicine. 156 (21): 2491–5. doi:10.1001/archinte.1996.00440200111014. PMID 8944742.
  6. ^ Raoult, D; Ndihokubwayo, JB; Tissot-Dupont, H; Roux, V; Faugere, B; Abegbinni, R; Birtles, RJ (1998). "Outbreak of epidemic typhus associated with trench fever in Burundi". The Lancet. 352 (9125): 353–358. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)12433-3. PMID 9717922. S2CID 25814472.
  7. ^ "Trench Fever". MSD Manual. Retrieved 30 May 2023.