Typhus fever, also called typhus, is a disease that occurs throughout the world in areas where people and rats occupy the same buildings and where large numbers of mice live. Anyone can get typhus but it occurs more often in people whose occupations or living conditions bring them into contact with rats. It is n ot directly spread from person to person.
People get typhus after infective rat fleas contaminate fresh skin wounds or the flea bite site.
Symptoms include fever, headache, chills, and general pains that are followed by a rash. The rash spreads to the whole body except for the face, palms, and soles of the feet. A person cannot get typhus fever more than once. The symptoms may appear from 1 to 2 weeks after the flea bite, usually within 12 days. Rats, mice and possibly other small mammals harbor the germ that causes disease.