Tifus epidémico en Nuevo León: presentación del primer caso clínico pediátrico.

The typhus epidemic is caused by Rickettsia prowazekii and is transmitted by lice, mainly in proletarian populations in rural regions of southern Mexico. In Nuevo Leon so far we have no reported cases, probably because the diagnosis is not made with unspecific laboratory tests such as the Proteus OX 19, which suggests that the disease is eradicated. We report a case of a female patient aged 16, from the rural area of Nuevo Leon (Cadereyta Jimenez) who presented abdominal pain, myalgia, arthralgia, headache, fever, mental confusion and weight loss in eight days evolution. Background refers infestation of lice in the family. The diagnosis was established by positive reactions to febrile Proteus OX-19 with certification of 1:4000, taken a week of the onset of the disease. Six hours after his admission, was requested another sample that was reported in 1:16000; the quadrupling of the result confirmed the diagnosis of the disease. The verification diagnosed typhus epidemic was established during the convalescence of the patient, a month later through the identification of IgG and IgM antibodies specific for Rickettsia typhi by indirect immunofluorescence, with results in IgG and IgM positive titers from 1:256 to 1:64, with reference values for the two titers in 1:64. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]