A century of typhus, lice and Rickettsia

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was discovered at the Pasteur Inst itute in Tunis that epidemic typhus is transmitted by the human body louse. The complete genome sequence of its causative agent, Rickettsia prowazekii , was determined at Uppsala University in Sweden at the end of the century. In this mini-review, we discuss insights gained from the genome sequence o f this fascinating and deadly organism. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.