Trench fever

Definition

A rare bacterial infectious disease caused by the louse-borne bacterium Bartonella quintana and characterized by a variable clinical picture with acute or insidious onset of a (potentially relapsing) febrile illness, headache, leg pain (most typically the shinbone), endocarditis, and thrombocytopenia. There may also be only non-specific symptoms that mimic other infections. The disease nowadays most commonly affects socially disadvantaged persons in urban areas.