Rickettsia typhi as Cause of Fatal Encephalitic Typhus in Hospitalized Patients, Hamburg, Germany, 1940–1944
| Autor: | Jessica Rauch, Birgit Muntau, Petra Eggert, Dennis Tappe |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 24, Iss 11, Pp 1982-1987 (2018) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 1080-6040 1080-6059 |
| DOI: | 10.3201/eid2411.171373 |
| Popis: | 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. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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