Flea-Borne Typhus as a COVID-19 Mimic: A Report of Four Cases

Table 2

Demographics, clinical findings, risk factors, and treatment of patients 1–4.

Clinical findings/treatment	Pt 1	Pt 2	Pt 3	Pt 4
Age (yrs), sex	30, F	45, M	62, M	27, M
Fever	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Chills	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Dyspnea	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Headache	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Cough	No	Yes	Yes	No
Gastrointestinal symptoms	No	Nausea	Nausea, anorexia	Nausea
Duration of illness prior to hospital presentation, days	7	8	7	10
CT of the chest	Peribroncho-vascular mixed consolidative and ground glass opacities along the lingula	Ground glass opacities with small areas of consolidation within the left lower lobe	Left upper lobe consolidative opacity with a small pleural effusion	Not performed
FBT risk factor	Dogs with fleas	Dogs with fleas	Stray cats and dogs; flea bites	None identified
Treatment	Ceftriaxone and azithromycin, then doxycycline	Azithromycin for 2-days without improvement, then doxycycline	Ceftriaxone and doxycycline	Vancomycin, ceftriaxone, acyclovir, doxycycline; narrowed to doxycycline on d3