Some viral and rickettsial infections in Bosnia and Herzegovina; a sero-epidemiological study.

Investigating viral and rickettsial infections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the authors submitted 115 sera of healthy persons to complement-fixation tests with typhus, Q fever, mumps, rickettsialpox, and psittacosis antigens. The results obtained indicate that the Moslem population tends to show more typhus-positive titres, and at an earlier age, than the non-Moslem. While Moslems under 20 years old tend to develop typhus in epidemic form, an approximately equal number of epidemic and apparently sporadic cases occurs among non-Moslems. On the other hand, Q fever is more frequent, and occurs earlier, in the non-Moslems. An epidemiological explanation of these phenomena is advanced.From the findings on mumps, it is thought possible that this disease tends to be primarily one of children in Moslems but not in non-Moslems. The rickettsialpox titres suggest the presence of an agent or agents antigenically related to Ricksettsia akari, and the psittacosis titres are thought to be caused by contact with organisms of the psittacosis and lymphogranuloma venereum group.