Louse-borne relapsing fever. A clinical and an epidemiological study of 389 patients in Asella Hospital, Ethiopia.

An outbreak of louse-borne relapsing fever, due to the return of soldiers to their original recruitment areas, after the end of thirty years of fighting in northern Ethiopia, was reported in Arsi region, southern Ethiopia. The epidemic spread to different members of the community and eventually the schools. We studied 389 patients affected by the epidemic and who were admitted to Asella Hospital between June 1991 and May 1992.