Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1993 Nov 13;342(8881):1213-5.
doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)92190-5.

Epidemic of louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia

K O Sundnes  1 , A T Haimanot
Affiliations

Epidemic of louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia

K O Sundnes et al. Lancet. .

Erratum in

  • Lancet 1994 Jan 22;334(8891):244

Abstract

During summer 1991 an outbreak of louse-borne relapsing fever occurred simultaneously in two transit camps established for prisoners of war being returned from Eritrea at the end of the Ethiopian civil war. Only antibiotic treatment was given at the Bahr Dar camp where the frequency of cases increased for 20 days. Vector control by delousing in addition to antibiotics was given at Mekele camp where the frequency of cases fell over a similar period. This difference was significant (p < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between the decreasing proportion of camp inhabitants that had not been deloused at Mekele camp each day and the numbers of patients with fever (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). Taken together, these results confirm that effective control of an epidemic of louse-borne relapsing fever is dependent on efficient vector control in addition to antibiotic treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Pestilence, war, and lice.
    World MJ. World MJ. Lancet. 1993 Nov 13;342(8881):1192. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)92182-s. Lancet. 1993. PMID: 7901526 No abstract available.
  • Successful in-vitro cultivation of Borrelia recurrentis.
    Cutler SJ, Fekade D, Hussein K, Knox KA, Melka A, Cann K, Emilianus AR, Warrell DA, Wright DJ. Cutler SJ, et al. Lancet. 1994 Jan 22;343(8891):242. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)91032-4. Lancet. 1994. PMID: 7904703 No abstract available.