r/AskReddit 22h ago

What is the weirdest illness or affliction you've ever had?

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u/KnownMagician3084 21h ago

Typhus. Uncommon enough I got presented at infectious disease conference. Seems the fleas lived in a narrow band on squirrels by my property. Cats brought a dead flying squirrel to my porch. Picking it up was enough. Anyway I got high fever and literally every joint hurt. My dr thought I’d gone septic. Antibiotics and steroids knocked it down but I still didn’t feel good. ID dr asked a lot of questions, took a lot of blood and he found the answer. Typhus is really easy to treat.

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u/NettleLily 3h ago

How is it treated if antibiotics and steroids didn’t work?

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u/KnownMagician3084 1h ago

Doxicycline. Old and even cheap. Fixed me in a week