Trench fever is a moderately serious disease, transmitted by lice, that infected more than a million soldiers during World War I and World War II. The disease persists among the homeless. Outbreaks have been documented, for example, in Seattle and Baltimore among injected drug users , Marseilles and Burundi.

Trench fever is also called Wolhynia fever, shin bone fever, quintan fever, five-day fever, Meuse fever, His disease and His-Werner disease (after Wilhelm His, Jr. and Heinrich Werner ).

The disease is caused by the organism Bartonella quintana, found in the stomach walls of the body louse.

Symptoms

The disease is classically a 5-day fever. The onset of symptoms is sudden with high fever, severe headache, back and leg pain and a fleeting rash. Recovery takes a month or more. Relapses are common.

Transmission

Transmission of the disease to people can occur by rubbing feces of infected louse into abraded skin or into the eyes.