Reemerging Threat of Epidemic Typhus in Algeria

Mokrani, K.; Fournier, Pierre‐Edouard; Dalichaouche, Mokhtar; Tebbal, S.; Aouati, A.; Raoult, Didier

doi:10.1128/jcm.42.8.3898-3900.2004

Cited by 38 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This finding is not surprising since the main clinical signs of MSF served as inclusion criteria. Because cross‐reactive antibodies are usually extensive between R. typhi and R. prowazekii , our two cases with positive serology against TG rickettsia may have been either murine typhus or epidemic typhus as recently reported in Algeria 7,8 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Reemergence of Rickettsiosis in Oran, Algeria

Mouffok

Benabdellah

Richet

et al. 2006

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The presumptive cases of Mediterranean spotted fever have been identified in 1993 and since that time, its frequency has steadily increased. The prospective study, in summer 2004, was conducted in order to present the descriptive clinic and epidemiology, to identify more severe forms, the presence of the multiple eschars, and different rickettsial strains caused the disease in our region. In Oran, the cases were diagnosed clinically. In Marseille, serum specimens were tested by IFA using the panel of eight rickettsial antigen; Western blot and cross-adsorption studies were also performed in order to confirm the diagnosis. Ninety-three patients clinically diagnosed were recorded from July 3 to October 28, 2004. Eighty percent were male, the mean age was 44.3 years, 90% were exposed to dog and 32% reported tick bites. Clinical signs were as follow: presence of underlying disease (44%), sudden onset (78%), fever (100%), loss of weight (63%), conjunctivitis (43%), and a tache noire was noticed in 70%. Interestingly, two patients had two and three eschars, respectively. The rash was maculopapular (palm and sole) and purpuric in nine cases. Doxycycline was the most antibiotic (91%) with favourable outcome in 91% of the cases. Malignant form with death is reported for three patients (3.2%). Among the 93 patients, 104 serum from 65 patients were tested (serums of others patients were lost or ticket not found on tube. Sixty-three patients out of 65 had a positive serology by IFA with cross-reactive antibodies especially between R. conorii, R. felis and/or R. typhi. Two others negative serology were: one precocious serum and second from the patient, which presented symptoms of MSF and tested two serums, Western blot and cross-adsorption.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Reemergence of Rickettsiosis in Oran, Algeria

Mouffok

Benabdellah

Richet

et al. 2006

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is still prevalent in areas where poor socioeconomic conditions and a high prevalence of louse infestations exist. The recent circulation or distribution of epidemic typhus is indefinite but since the 1990s, foci of epidemic typhushave been described in Africa, including Algeria (Mokrani et al, 2004) and central eastern African countries such as Ethiopia, Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi (Perine et al, 1992), in mountainous regions of South America (including Peru), in mountainous or highland regions of North America, in the Himalayan regions in Asia, and in Russia (Tarasevich et al, 1998). An autochthonous case of epidemic typhus has been recently reported in France (Badiaga and Brouqui, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seroprevalence of typhus fever at the Kality Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Mariam¹,

Gelaw²,

Assefa³

2015

Biomed Res Ther

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-Background: Peoples living in crowded situations like refugee camps and prisons are highly vulnerable to louse-born typhus infection. The information on the prevalence of louse-borne typhus among prisoners in Ethiopia is limited. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of typhus among prisoners at the Kality Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A five-year retrospective study was conducted from February to March 2014. A total of 6104 typhus fever suspected prisoners tested for typhus at the Kality Prison Hospital from 2008 to 2012 were included. Data on the seroprevalence of typhus were abstracted from Kality Prison Laboratory. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS 20 statistical software. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square were computed. In all cases p-values less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The overall prevalence of typhus fever infection was 26.3%. The prevalence of typhus fever infection was found to be higher among prisoners within the age group of 41-50 years (36.9%) and also among male patients (27.3%). The prevalence of typhus fever infection was higher by the year 2009 (40.7%) and overall in the five-year period the summer (31.8%) and fall (30%) seasons showed higher seroprevalence of typhus. Conclusions: The prevalence of typhus fever infection at Kality prison was high. This high prevalence could be a possible risk for epidemic typhus fever infection within the prison and for the nearby population. Therefore, targeted public health intervention could be important in this high-risk population.

show abstract

“…Epidemic typhus that is transmitted from human-to-human by the body louse sporadically appears in low-income countries of South America and Africa but also in upper-middle economies such as Peru [10] and Algeria [11] and industrial countries such as Russia [12]. The most recent larger outbreak of epidemic typhus was in the context of civil war in Burundi in 1995 [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CD4+ T Cells Are as Protective as CD8+ T Cells against Rickettsia typhi Infection by Activating Macrophage Bactericidal Activity

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rickettsia typhi is an intracellular bacterium that causes endemic typhus, a febrile disease that can be fatal due to complications including pneumonia, hepatitis and meningoencephalitis, the latter being a regular outcome in T and B cell-deficient C57BL/6 RAG1-/- mice upon Rickettsia typhi infection. Here, we show that CD4+ TH1 cells that are generated in C57BL/6 mice upon R. typhi infection are as protective as cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. CD4+- as well as CD8+-deficient C57BL/6 survived the infection without showing symptoms of disease at any point in time. Moreover, adoptively transferred CD8+ and CD4+ immune T cells entered the CNS of C57BL/6 RAG1-/- mice with advanced infection and both eradicated the bacteria. However, immune CD4+ T cells protected only approximately 60% of the animals from death. They induced the expression of iNOS in infiltrating macrophages as well as in resident microglia in the CNS which can contribute to bacterial killing but also accelerate pathology. In vitro immune CD4+ T cells inhibited bacterial growth in infected macrophages which was in part mediated by the release of IFNγ. Collectively, our data demonstrate that CD4+ T cells are as protective as CD8+ T cells against R. typhi, provided that CD4+ TH1 effector cells are present in time to support bactericidal activity of phagocytes via the release of IFNγ and other factors. With regard to vaccination against TG Rickettsiae, our findings suggest that the induction of CD4+ TH1 effector cells is sufficient for protection.

show abstract

Reemerging Threat of Epidemic Typhus in Algeria

Cited by 38 publications

References 19 publications

Reemergence of Rickettsiosis in Oran, Algeria

Reemergence of Rickettsiosis in Oran, Algeria

Seroprevalence of typhus fever at the Kality Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

CD4+ T Cells Are as Protective as CD8+ T Cells against Rickettsia typhi Infection by Activating Macrophage Bactericidal Activity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About