In 1546, Girolamo Fracastoro, a Florentine physician, described typhus in his famous treatise on viruses and contagion, De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis.Typhus was carried to mainland Europe by soldiers who had been fighting on Cyprus. The first reliable description of the disease appears during the siege of the Emirate of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs in 1489 during the Granada War. These accounts include descriptions of fever and red spots over arms, back and chest, progressing to delirium, gangrenous sores, and the stench of rotting flesh. During the siege, the Catholics lost 3,000 men to enemy action, but an additional 17,000 died of typhus.Typhus was also common in prisons (and in crowded conditions where lice spread easily), where it was known as Gaol fever or Jail fever. Gaol fever often occurs when prisoners are frequently huddled together in dark, filthy rooms. Imprisonment until the next term of court was often equivalent to a death sentence. Typhus was so infectious that prisoners brought before the court sometimes infected the court itself. Following the Black Assize of Oxford 1577, over 300 died from epidemic typhus, including Speaker Robert Bell, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. The outbreak that followed, between 1577 and 1579, killed about 10% of the English population.During the Lent assize held at Taunton (1730), typhus caused the death of the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the High Sheriff of Somerset, the sergeant, and hundreds of other persons.
Signs/Symptoms may include:
Fever
Chills
Headache
Confusion
Cough
Rapid Breathing
Body/Muscle Aches
Rash
Nausea
VomitingAfter 5–6 days, a macular skin eruption develops: first on the upper trunk and spreading to the rest of the body (rarely to the face, palms, or soles of the feet, however).Brill–Zinsser disease, first described by Nathan Brill in 1913 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, is a mild form of epidemic typhus that recurs in someone after a long period of latency (similar to the relationship between chickenpox and shingles). This recurrence often arises in times of relative immunosuppression, which is often in the context of a person suffering malnutrition or other illnesses. In combination with poor sanitation and hygiene in times of social chaos and upheaval, which enable a greater density of lice, this reactivation is why typhus generates epidemics in such conditions. Complications
Complications are as follows
Myocarditis
Endocarditis
Mycotic aneurysm
Pneumonia
Pancreatitis
Kidney or bladder infections
Acute renal failure
Meningitis
Encephalitis
Myelitis
Septic shock

Transmission
Feeding on a human who carries the bacterium infects the louse. R. prowazekii grows in the louses gut and is excreted in its feces. The louse transmits the disease by biting an uninfected human, who scratches the louse bite (which itches) and rubs the feces into the wound. The incubation period is one to two weeks. R. prowazekii can remain viable and virulent in the dried louse feces for many days. Typhus will eventually kill the louse, though the disease will remain viable for many weeks in the dead louse.Epidemic typhus has historically occurred during times of war and deprivation.