Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Typhus Fever
James H. S. Gear in CRC Handbook of Viral and Rickettsial Hemorrhagic Fevers, 2019
The rickettsial diseases are characterized by fever, headache, malaise, myalgia, and a rash. The time of appearance and nature of the rash may make the diagnosis clear at the bedside. As a general rule, the exanthem is initially pink, macular, and fades on pressure. Within several days, in severe cases, the rash becomes fixed, fails to fade and develops hemorrhagic features, i.e., petechiae. These lesions may coalesce, particularly over pressure areas, such as the elbows, knees, hips, buttocks, etc., to form large ecchymotic bruises. Generally, the rash is first noted on the 4th to 6th days. It may be observed as early as the 1st day and as late as the 7th or 8th days. Also, occasionally, the rash may suddenly appear and progress rapidly from a few pink macules to diffuse petechiae which resemble the purpura of idiopathic thrombocytopenia. Usually, these are the more severely ill patients who may die or recover only after prolonged illness.
Typhus and social control
Roy MacLeod, Milton Lewis in Disease, Medicine, and Empire, 1988
Louse-borne typhus is ‘one of the greatest epidemic diseases of history’. As Hans Zinsser has shown in his incomparable Rats, Lice and History, it as been associated with nearly every great war and famine since the fifteenth century.27 A disease of ‘poverty, filth, human distress and overcrowding’, it can spread through a community or ravage a continent with great rapidity.28 The rickettsial organism responsible for the typhus infection can be transmitted to humans through ticks, rat- and mice-borne fleas, mites or lice, although the majority of cases with lethal consequence in South Africa as elsewhere was generally the louse-borne infection.29 Of rapid onset, classically typhus is recognized by fever, severe headache and muscular pains, a characteristic rash which appears about the fifth day and nervous symptoms (nightmares, tremors and twitching, stupor and delirium). The crisis is normally reached after fourteen to sixteen days. Fatality rises with age and deficient nutrition.30
Pneumonitis In Rickettsial Infections
Lourdes R. Laraya-Cuasay, Walter T. Hughes in Interstitial Lung Diseases in Children, 2019
Rickettsial infections are caused by fastidious, obligately intracellular bacteria which contain both DNA and RNA, multiply by binary fission, and are inhibited by antibiotics. Rickettsiae are primarily arthropod borne; i.e., they are spread by hematophagous invertebrates such as ticks, mites, lice, and fleas. Members of the Rickettsia genus appear negative on Gram stain and are divided into three serologic groups: spotted fever, typhus, and scrub typhus. The Q fever agent Coxiella burnetii is classified separately from the Rickettsia genus proper on the basis of several differences. These include its smaller size, Gram-positive staining properties, resistance to heat and dessication, probable respiratory mode of transmission, and absence of cross reactivity with Proteus antigens (Weil-Felix serology).
Spotted fever diagnosis: Experience from a South Indian center
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2021
Elangovan D, Perumalla S, Gunasekaran K, Rose W, Verghese V p, Abhilash K Pp, Prakash Jaj, Dumler Js
This prospective study was undertaken in the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore from December 2017 to May 2019. Following Ethics Committee clearance (IRB min No. 11013 dated 4 December 2017), eligible individuals were consented into the study. The study population included individuals of either sex and any age with acute undifferentiated fever (without localizing signs) of ≤15 days’ duration and rash whose samples were sent for spotted fever Rickettsia serology. Exclusion criteria included those with malaria, sepsis, enteric fever, drug-induced rashes, pustular rashes, viral exanthem or enanthem. Individuals with drug rash, pustular rashes, viral exanthems and enanthems were excluded by the physicians using detailed history and physical examination. Malaria was ruled out by testing three consecutive EDTA blood specimens by quantitative buffy coat (QBC venous tube, Tosoh India Pvt Ltd, Thane, India). Automated blood culture system (BacT/Alert, bioMerieux, Durham, NC, USA) was used to exclude enteric fever and septicemia (minimum one set of two bottles each). ELISA to detect NS1 Antigen, IgM and IgG antibodies (J. Mitra & Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India) was performed to exclude dengue.
The relevance of studying insect–nematode interactions for human disease
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2022
Zorada Swart, Tuan A. Duong, Brenda D. Wingfield, Alisa Postma, Bernard Slippers
The nematode species responsible for the majority of filariasis all rely on an intracellular bacterium for their development and reproduction [5,32]. The bacterial symbiont, Wolbachia, belongs to the order Rickettsiales – the same order containing Rickettsia species associated with tick-bite fever and other spotted fevers. The drugs used to treat rickettsia infections, especially doxycycline, successfully suppress filarial infections [56,57]. Unfortunately, a course of treatment with doxycycline lasts 6–8 weeks and cannot be used in pregnant women or children.
Prevalence of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia in North-Eastern Poland
Published in Infectious Diseases, 2019
Karol Borawski, Justyna Dunaj, Piotr Czupryna, Sławomir Pancewicz, Renata Świerzbińska, Agnieszka Żebrowska, Anna Moniuszko-Malinowska
Our study confirms that Rickettsia spp. is present in the Central Europe regions, and potentially can be dangerous for humans. It is important to consider Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis in the differential diagnosis of fever after a tick bite.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Bacteria
- Coccus
- Cytoplasm
- Endospore
- Bacillus
- Motility
- Gram-Negative Bacteria
- Pleomorphism
- Spotted Fever
- Rickettsiales