Posted on: Monday, July 12, 2004

15 murine typhus cases in Hawai'i so far

Associated Press

The number of confirmed cases of murine typhus in Hawai'i this year is about the same as last year.

As of Wednesday, there were 15 cases, one more than by the same time in 2003, state health officials said.

In all, there were 38 cases last year, down from 47 in 2002. Hawai'i typically has four or five cases a year.

Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo said the number of cases remains high, in part, because of greater public awareness of the disease.

People typically contract murine typhus from the bite of a flea that had earlier bitten an infected rodent. Symptoms include fever, headaches, body aches, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and a rash.

It's treated with antibiotics.