Flea-borne typhus disease on the rise in DTLA, Pasadena

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. Today, writer Arthur Allen has a remarkable story of war, disease, heroism and vaccines made from volunteers willing to let lice suck their blood. For centuries, epidemics of typhus have erupted in times of war. The disease is carried by body lice, which thrive among soldiers who go long stretches without changing clothes and then transmit the vermin to civilian populations they encounter. During World War II, typhus appeared in war-torn areas and in Jewish ghettos, where cramped, harsh conditions were a perfect breeding ground for lice.

Arthur Allen's book, which is out in paperback next month, tells the story of two scientists, one Christian and one Jewish, who are employed by the Nazis to produce a typhus vaccine to protect German troops. The labs of these two immunologists actually sent weakened, ineffective vaccines to the German army while smuggling the real product to Jews in a Polish ghetto and a concentration camp. One lab sheltered Polish intellectuals and resistance fighters from the Nazis by employing them as lice feeders - meaning they allowed hundreds of lice to suck their blood. Arthur Allen has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Science and other publications. I spoke to him last year when his book first appeared in hardback. It's called "The Fantastic Laboratory Of Dr. Weigl."

Typhus fever occurs in conditions of overcrowding and poor hygiene, such as in prisons and refugee camps.

Cleanliness is important in preventing infestation by body lice. Insecticidal powders are available for body-louse control and treatment of clothing for those at high risk of exposure.