Mediterranean spotted fever: a benign zoonosis?
Keywords:
Mediterranean spotted fever, ricketta conorii, black eschar, rashAbstract
Mediterranean spotted fever is a rickettsiosis with a predominance
during the summer months, endemic in the Mediterranean region.
Rickettsia conorii, microorganism responsable for the disease, is a
small intracellular gram-negative bacillus, transmitted accidentally
to man by the Riphicephalus sanguineus arthropod.
The classical triad is characterized by fever, rash (with palm
and sole distribution) and black eschar. After a mean incubation
period of 3 to 7 days, clinical symptoms appear.
Although Mediterranean spotted fever is usually a benign disease, serious complications can occur specially in older patients
and patients with underlying chronic diseases (diabetes mellitus,
heart failure, alcoholism, etc.).
The authors conducted a retrospective study of the patients
hospitalized in an Internal Medicine ward with Mediterranean
spotted fever during a period of 10 years (1994-2003) focusing
on the epidemiology, clinical and laboratory manifestations and complications of the disease.
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