{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T19:10:43Z","timestamp":1761419443821,"version":"3.44.0"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,3]],"date-time":"2020-11-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1604361600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":2,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Case Rep"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,26]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Fever is a widely recognised presenting symptom of COVID-19. Consequently, other febrile illnesses may be difficult to distinguish from COVID-19\u2014leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment. One such illness is murine typhus, a fleaborne illness with worldwide distribution caused by <jats:italic>Rickettsia typhi<\/jats:italic>. It often presents with fever, headache and myalgia, all of which have been commonly reported with COVID-19. Although the disease is usually mild with a good prognosis, there have been reports of severe illness and death. I present a case of murine typhus in a young male who had 2 weeks of headaches and daily fevers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was ultimately tested for murine typhus when his occupation as a dog trainer was queried, and he experienced resolution of symptoms after treatment with doxycycline. During this pandemic, clinicians must be vigilant of other febrile illnesses whose symptoms overlap with COVID-19.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/bcr-2020-239471","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,4]],"date-time":"2020-11-04T03:16:59Z","timestamp":1604459819000},"page":"e239471","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Murine typhus mistaken for COVID-19 in a young man"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Hemesh Mahesh","family":"Patel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Virtual Medical Center and Department of Family Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Huntington Beach, California, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025082700100523000_13.11.e239471.1","article-title":"What's hot, with spots and red all over? murine 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