A tiny microbe, Rickettsia prowasekii, causes a devastating infectious disease called epidemic typhus.
The disease has plagued humankind for centuries and inflicts death by the thousands. The frequent occurrence of this disease among encamped armies, it was often called "war fever" or "camp fever".
During Europe's Thirty Years War (1618-1648), plague, starvation and typhus claimed about 10 million people. Sometimes the outbreak of typhus would dictate the outcome of a war.
An outbreak of typhus decimated Spanish forces in 1489 during their siege on the Moorish stronghold of Granada. The Spanish force was reduced from 25,000 to 8,000 in a single month. Because of the ravages of typhus, it was another century before the Spanish were able t drive the Moors from Spain. As recently as World War I, typhus caused several million deaths in Poland, Russia and Romania.
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