In his classic paper, Weeks characterizes "H. aegyptius" by its high contagiousness, direct transmission from patient to volunteer, pathogenesis, pathology, treatment and epidemiology. It manifests itself most often as BPF in infants and young children, aged 3 months to 8 years. Symptoms of Brazilian Purpuric Fever are usually preceded by purulent conjunctivitis and later include acute, or sudden, onset of high fever, vomiting, abdominal pain, purpura, vascular collapse and death. The overall patient fatality rate since the recognition of BPF is about 70%.