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When Did Typhus Fever Start?

Sophia Al-Mansoor • • 6 min read
When Did Typhus Fever Start?

Paleomicrobiology enabled the identification of the first outbreak of epidemic typhus

epidemic typhus
A disease known since antiquity, typhus has been described as follows: “A kind of continued fever, attended with great prostration of the nervous and vascular systems, with a tendency to putrefaction in the fluids and vitiation in the secretions; putrid fever.
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in the 18th century in the context of a pan-European great war in the city of Douai, France, and supported the hypothesis that typhus was imported into Europe by Spanish soldiers returning from America.

When did typhus start and end?

A major epidemic occurred in Ireland between 1816–19, and again in the late 1830s. Another major typhus epidemic occurred during the Great Irish Famine between 1846 and 1849. The Irish typhus spread to England, where it was sometimes called "Irish fever" and was noted for its virulence.

During what historical time period did typhus occur?

Epidemics occurred routinely throughout Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries, including during the English Civil War, the Thirty Years' War, and the Napoleonic Wars. Pestilence of several kinds raged among combatants and civilians in Germany and surrounding lands from 1618 to 1648.

Sophia Al-Mansoor
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Sophia Al-Mansoor

Sophia analyzes international trade, startup ecosystems, retail transformation, and supply chain logistics for modern digital publications.