See Also: Hegg Memorial Health Center Avera Health(health)
Dells Area Health Center Avera Health(health)
Divine Providence Health Center Avera Health(health)
IMS Health(finance)
Man's health(health)
Health Net(finance)
health(dictionary)
Sun Health(health)
health(dictionary)
health(encyclopedia)

Disease, His (health)


Named for the Swiss physician Wilhelm His, Jr. (who also described the bundle of His in the heart), this is a louse-borne disease first recognized in the trenches of World War I and so was called trench fever. Urban trench fever occurs among the homeless people and people with alcoholism today. The cause of trench fever is Bartonella quintana (also called Rochalimaea quintana), an unusual rickettsial organism that multiplies in the gut of the body louse. Transmission of the rickettsia to people can occur by rubbing infected louse feces into abraded (scuffed) skin or into the conjunctivae (whites of the eyes). The disease is classically a 5-day fever. The onset of symptoms is sudden with high fever, severe headache, back pain and leg pain and a fleeting rash. Recovery takes a month or more. Relapses are common.