Behavioral effects of infectious diseases: Phlebotomus fever in man.

Employed the synthetic work technique to assess the behavioral effects of a self-limiting viral infection, Phlebotomus (Sandfly) fever. Average efficiency, as measured with the mean percentage of base line performance, fell about 18 and 25% with 2 groups of 8 experimental Ss each as compared with 4 uninfected controls. These are not as great as the 25-33% decrements in performance previously observed in more severe cases of bacterial infection with respiratory Pasteurella tularensis (Rabbit fever or tularemia). Ss differed greatly in their behavioral reactions to infection, ranging from essentially no decrement to maximum decrements of about 14% (Sandfly fever) and 20% (tularemia) of base line performance per degree rise in body temperature during the febrile period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)