25.2 Bacterial infections of the circulatory and lymphatic systems  (Page 16/24)

This disease is endemic in North and South America and its incidence is coincident with the arthropod vector range. Despite its name, most cases in the US do not occur in the Rocky Mountain region but in the Southeast; North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri account for greater than 60% of all cases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF): Statistics and Epidemiology.” http://www.cdc.gov/rmsf/stats/index.html. Accessed Sept 16, 2016. The map in [link] shows the distribution of prevalence in the US in 2010.

Signs and symptoms of RMSF include a high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and vomiting. A petechial rash (similar in appearance to measles) begins on the hands and wrists, and spreads to the trunk, face, and extremities ( [link] ). If untreated, RMSF is a serious illness that can be fatal in the first 8 days even in otherwise healthy patients. Ideally, treatment should begin before petechiae develop, because this is a sign of progression to severe disease; however, the rash usually does not appear until day 6 or later after onset of symptoms and only occurs in 35%–60% of patients with the infection. Increased vascular permeability associated with petechiae formation can result in fatality rates of 3% or greater, even in the presence of clinical support. Most deaths are due to hypotension and cardiac arrest or from ischemia following blood coagulation.

Diagnosis can be challenging because the disease mimics several other diseases that are more prevalent. The diagnosis of RMSF is made based on symptoms, fluorescent antibody staining of a biopsy specimen from the rash, PCR for Rickettsia rickettsii , and acute and convalescent serologic testing. Primary treatment is doxycycline , with chloramphenicol as the second choice.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted by the bite of a hard-bodied, black-legged Ixodes tick. I. scapularis is the biological vector transmitting B. burgdorferi in the eastern and north-central US and I. pacificus transmits B. burgdorferi in the western US ( [link] ). Different species of Ixodes ticks are responsible for B. burgdorferi transmission in Asia and Europe. In the US, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vectorborne illness. In 2014, it was the fifth most common Nationally Notifiable disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Lyme Disease. Data and Statistics.” 2015. http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/index.html. Accessed July 26, 2016.

Ixodes ticks have complex life cycles and deer, mice, and even birds can act as reservoirs. Over 2 years, the ticks pass through four developmental stages and require a blood meal from a host at each stage. In the spring, tick eggs hatch into six-legged larvae. These larvae do not carry B. burgdorferi initially. They may acquire the spirochete when they take their first blood meal (typically from a mouse). The larvae then overwinter and molt into eight-legged nymphs in the following spring. Nymphs take blood meals primarily from small rodents, but may also feed on humans, burrowing into the skin. The feeding period can last several days to a week, and it typically takes 24 hours for an infected nymph to transmit enough B. burgdorferi to cause infection in a human host. Nymphs ultimately mature into male and female adult ticks, which tend to feed on larger animals like deer or, occasionally, humans. The adults then mate and produce eggs to continue the cycle ( [link] ).