infectious diseases
Trench Fever
Introduction
Trench fever is a louse-borne disease caused by the gram-negative bacteriumBartonella quintanaand observed originally in military populations during World Wars I and II. Symptoms are an acute, recurring febrile illness, occasionally with a rash. Diagnosis is by blood culture. Treatment is with a macrolide ordoxycycline. (See also Overview of Bartonella Infections .) Humans are the only reservoir of thisBartonellainfection.B. quintanais transmitted to humans when feces from infected lice are rubbed into abraded skin or the conjunctiva. Trench fever is endemic in Mexico, Tunisia, Eritrea, Poland, and the former Soviet Union and is reappearing in the homeless population in the US. 