Body lice contributed to Napoleon’s downfall. They spread typhus among his Grande Armée of 500,000, reducing them to about 30,000 by 1812, at which point he eventually lost to forces of a ...

But he was contented. He had demonstrated something more about typhus fever. In Europe the body louse carries the virus of typhus fever, transmits a form of the disease which kills 22% to 65% of ...