rickettsia:

Types of Rickettsial Diseases

Rickettsia prowazekiicauses louse-borne typhus, carried from person to person by two species of lice. Flea, or murine, typhus, caused byR. mooseri,is transmitted from rodents to people by fleas. Trench fever, caused byR. quintana,was an epidemic disease in World War I; it is transmitted by the rat flea from rat to person or from person to person. Trench fever disease reservoirs (perpetuation of the disease in wild animal populations) exist in some parts of E Europe, Mexico, and N Africa. Various typhuslike rickettsial diseases, such asRo+cky Mountain spotted feverand African tick typhus, are transmitted by ticks from animal hosts to people. Mite-borne rickettsial infections include rickettsialpox, caused byRickettsia akariand transmitted from house mice to people, and scrub typhus, or tsutsugamushi fever, caused byR. tsutsugamushiand found in Japan and SE Asia. A new rickettsia,Ehrlichia chaffeenis,which results in humanehrlichiosis, was identified in 1986.Q feverwas formerly classified as a rickettsial disease, but its causative agent,Coxiella burnetii,although similar to the rickettsia, is more closely related to the bacteria that causesLegionnaire's diseaseand is now included in the order Legionellales.

Sections in this article:

Introduction
Types of Rickettsial Diseases
Symptoms and Treatment

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