CHAPTER IX 



RELAPSING FEVER 



RELAPSING fever is the name given to a disease 

 which is characterised by an intermittent fever 

 and is caused by a parasite known as a spirochaete. 

 To-day in Europe it is common in Poland, Russia, 

 parts of Austria and the Balkans. In Western 

 Europe it has become very rare in recent years 

 though occasional cases still occur in Ireland. 

 It is found over the greater part of Africa in one 

 form or another, over all Asia except the most 

 tropical parts, and in South America. In North 

 America cases are occasionally recorded, but 

 the disease has never established itself there. 

 Australia has always been apparently free of it. 

 It is a malady of the colder part of the year rather 

 than of the hotter, and epidemics rage chiefly 

 amongst people of the poorer classes. The epi- 

 demics have usually been associated with some 

 period of special distress such as a famine, and 

 the disease is sometimes known by the name of 

 " hunger typhus." The characteristics of the 

 sickness vary in the different areas, but to so 



