Humphreys Margaret
Department of History, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Bull Hist Med. 2006 Summer;80(2):269-90. doi: 10.1353/bhm.2006.0058.
Medical observers during the American Civil War were happily surprised to find that typhus fever rarely made an appearance, and was not a major killer in the prisoner-of-war camps where the crowded, filthy, and malnourished populations appeared to offer an ideal breeding ground for the disease. Through a review of apparent typhus outbreaks in America north of the Mexican border, this article argues that typhus fever rarely if ever extended to the established populations of the United States, even when imported on immigrant ships into densely populated and unsanitary slums. It suggests that something in the American environment was inhospitable to the extensive spread of the disease, most likely an unrecognized difference in the North American louse population compared to that of Europe.
美国内战期间的医学观察家惊喜地发现，斑疹伤寒很少出现，在战俘营中也不是主要杀手，而在那里，拥挤、肮脏且营养不良的人群似乎为这种疾病提供了理想的滋生地。通过回顾墨西哥边境以北美国明显的斑疹伤寒疫情，本文认为，斑疹伤寒极少（如果有的话）传播到美国的常住人口中，即使是通过移民船只传入人口密集且不卫生的贫民窟。这表明美国环境中的某些因素不利于该疾病的广泛传播，很可能是北美虱子种群与欧洲相比存在未被认识到的差异。
