Raoult D, Roux V, Ndihokubwayo J B, Bise G, Baudon D, Marte G, Birtles R
Université de la Méditerranée, Faculté de Médecine, Marsaille, France.
Emerg Infect Dis. 1997 Jul-Sep;3(3):357-60. doi: 10.3201/eid0303.970313.
We recently investigated a suspected outbreak of epidemic typhus in a jail in Burundi. We tested sera of nine patients by microimmunofluorescence for antibodies to Rickettsia prowazekii and Rickettsia typhi. We also amplified and sequenced from lice gene portions specific for two R. prowazekii proteins: the gene encoding for citrate synthase and the gene encoding for the rickettsial outer membrane protein. All patients exhibited antibodies specific for R. prowazekii. Specific gene sequences were amplified in two lice from one patient. The patients had typical clinical manifestations, and two died. Molecular techniques provided a convenient and reliable means of examining lice and confirming this outbreak. The jail-associated outbreak predates an extensive ongoing outbreak of louse-borne typhus in central eastern Africa after civil war and in refugee camps in Rwanda, Burundi (1), and Zaire.
我们最近对布隆迪一所监狱疑似流行性斑疹伤寒暴发事件展开了调查。我们通过微量免疫荧光法检测了9名患者血清中针对普氏立克次体和斑疹伤寒立克次体的抗体。我们还从虱子中扩增并测序了普氏立克次体两种蛋白质的特异性基因片段：编码柠檬酸合酶的基因和编码立克次体外膜蛋白的基因。所有患者均表现出针对普氏立克次体的特异性抗体。在一名患者的两只虱子中扩增出了特异性基因序列。这些患者有典型的临床表现，其中两人死亡。分子技术为检查虱子和确认此次疫情暴发提供了一种便捷可靠的方法。此次监狱相关的疫情暴发早于东非中部在内战后以及卢旺达、布隆迪（1）和扎伊尔难民营中正在大规模暴发的虱传斑疹伤寒疫情。
