Pediculus humanus humanus Linnaeus

Abbeville Co., unknown location, 5 March 1975; Greenville Co., Ninety Six, 1 January 1975; Pickens Co., Clemson, 24 November 1975.

The human body louse is a vector of at least three pathogens of humans, including those that cause epidemic louse­borne typhus ( Rickettsia prowazekii), trench fever ( Bartonella quintana (Schmincke)), and louse­borne relapsing fever ( Borrelia recurrentis (Lebert)) . Both louse borne typhus and trench fever are endemic in the U.S.A. as either zoonotic or recrudescent agents or emerging infectious diseases (Jackson & Spach 1996; Azad & Beard 1998; Durden 2002).