Endemic typhus causes about 12 days of high fever, with chills and headache. A light rash may occur. Scrub typhus causes a wide variety of effects. The main symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches and pains, cough, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and diarrhea. Some patients experience only these symptoms.
Some patients develop a rash, which can be flat or bumpy.
The individual spots eventually develop crusty black scabs. When the antibodies react in a particular way, it suggests the presence of a rickettsial infection. Many tests require a fair amount of time for processing, so practitioners will frequently begin treatment without completing tests, simply on the basis of a patient's symptoms. The antibiotics tetracycline or chloramphenicol are used for treatment of each of the forms of typhus. The prognosis depends on what types of complications an individual patient experiences.