- Patricia Doyle, PhD |
dr_p_doyle@hotmail.comm
8-12-3
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- From ProMed
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- A 27 year old man from Evansville, Illinois died on Tue
5 Aug 2003, days after contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever from a
tick bite near his home. He had been walking in the woods with his dogs
near his Randolph County home about a week before, when a tick climbed
into his beard and bit him, his sister said. "It happened so fast,"
the sister said. She added that her brother broke out in dark spots on
his body, a sign of the disease. "It was all purple in the skin, in
his eyes and his face," she said.
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- Rocky Mountain spotted fever is caused by _Rickettsia
rickettsii_ -- a species of bacteria that is spread to humans by ticks,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
Initial signs and symptoms of the disease include a sudden onset of fever,
headache and muscle pain, followed by a rash. The disease can be difficult
to diagnose in its early stages, but [certain - Mod.LL] antimicrobials
are effective.
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- About 3 per cent to 5 per cent of those who contract
Rocky Mountain spotted fever die from the infection, according to CDC.
The disease had a mortality rate of about 30 per cent before antimicrobialss
were discovered to treat the disease in the late 1940s.
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- Despite its name, Rocky Mountain spotted fever is broadly
distributed throughout the continental United States, as well as southern
Canada, Central America, Mexico, and parts of South America, according
to CDC. Between 1981 and 1996, the disease was reported in every US state
except Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, and Alaska.
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- http://www.belleville.com/mld/newsdemocrat/6499181.htm
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- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
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- [It is vital to diagnose this rickettsial infection promptly
to minimize morbidity and mortality. This is particularly true in areas
such as the midwestern USA where the disease is uncommon. The time frame
in this case is not clear. When the female tick harboring the organism
attaches to a passing human, she usually starts low on the body after transferring
from grassy vegetation or even directly or indirectly from a dog. After
crawling around on clothes seeking an appropriate cutaneous site (wearing
white clothes makes a wandering tick easier to spot), she attaches and
begins to feed. In this case, the neck line may have been the first skin
she located, hence feeding in the beard area.
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- After attaching, it generally takes as many as 24 hours
to activate and transmit the rickettsial organism. For this reason, daily
or twice daily tick checks with removal will minimize disease transmission.
Ticks that attach in hairy areas such as the scalp or beard may be more
difficult to find.
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- The incubation period of the disease is about a week
after the tick exposure, long after the tick has detached. The presenting
illness is generally nonspecific -- fever, muscle pains, headache (but
the headache is usually described as quite severe). The rash begins in
day 3 of illness, initially maculopapular at the wrists and ankles before
becoming petechial and purpuric involving the palms and soles as well as
spreading proximally to the truck. Purpura usually are not seen before
the sixth day of illness. The mortality is indeed quite low if treatment
(usually a tetracycline)is begun during the first 2 days of the rash or
before. - Mod.LL]
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- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health
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