European typhus fever, also called "spotted fever'' and "ship fever," is not to be confused with typhoid fever. For generations it was the scourge of armies, and it still flourishes in Poland, Russia and the Balkans. It is transmitted by lice and fleas (hence delousing stations in the World War). The disease is due to a cosmopolitan virus called Rickettsia prowazeki,* which dwells in the intestines of the filthy little insects. Vaccines made from dead typhus viruses provide immunity from the disease, but such vaccines are difficult to make, for Rickettsia prowazeki cannot...
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