Eschar-associated Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis, Bahia, Brazil | CDC EID

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Volume 17, Number 2–February 2011
Dispatch
Eschar-associated Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis, Bahia, Brazil
Nanci Silva, Marina E. Eremeeva, Tatiana Rozental, Guilherme S. Ribeiro, Christopher D. Paddock, Eduardo Antonio G. Ramos, Alexsandra R.M. Favacho, Mitermayer G. Reis, Gregory A. Dasch, Elba R.S. de Lemos, and Albert I. Ko

Author affiliations: Medicine and Public Health School of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil (N. Silva); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (M.E. Eremeeva, C.D. Paddock, G.A. Dasch); Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (T. Rozental, A.R.M. Favacho, E.R.S. de Lemos); Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador (G.S. Ribeiro, E.A.G Ramos, M.G. Reis, A.I. Ko); Federal University of Bahia, Salvador (G.S. Ribeiro); and Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (A.I. Ko)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
In Brazil, Brazilian spotted fever was once considered the only tick-borne rickettsial disease. We report eschar-associated rickettsial disease that occurred after a tick bite. The etiologic agent is most related to Rickettsia parkeri, R. africae, and R. sibirica and probably widely distributed from São Paulo to Bahia in the Atlantic Forest.

Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, was at one time considered the only tick-borne rickettsial disease in Brazil (1). Its transmission in 5 southern states is primarily associated with Amblyomma cajennense, A. aureolatum, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks; however, many other rickettsiae of unknown pathogenicity are carried by ticks in Brazil (1,2). We describe an eschar-associated rickettsiosis in a traveler from the state of Bahia, Brazil; this disease seems to have been caused by the same Rickettsia sp. that caused a similar disease in São Paulo in 2009 (3).


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Eschar-associated Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis, Bahia, Brazil | CDC EID


Suggested Citation for this Article
Silva N, Eremeeva ME, Rozental T, Ribeiro GS, Paddock CD, Ramos EAG, et al. Eschar-associated spotted fever rickettsiosis, Bahia, Brazil. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Feb [date cited].
http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/2/275.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1702.100859


Comments to the Authors
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Albert I. Ko, Yale School of Public Health, Epidemiology of Microbial Disease Division, 60 College St, PO Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06520-8034, USA; email: albert.ko@yale.edu