Tick-borne rickettsioses in the Americas: clinical and epidemiological advances, and diagnostic challenges

Marylin Hidalgo, Alvaro A. Faccini-Martínez, Gustavo Valbuena, .

Keywords: Rickettsia, Americas, Rickettsia infections, epidemiology, diagnosis, zoonoses

Abstract

Rickettsioses are a group of zoonotic diseases caused by strict intracellular bacteria of the genus Rickettsia and Orientia which belong to the Rickettsiaceae family. Their ecology is influenced by environmental factors and the presence of specific vectors that determine the establishment and epidemiology in different world regions. In America, during the 20th century, only three of these diseases were recognized: Rocky Mountain spotted fever, epidemic typhus and endemic typhus. However, since 2000, more than 10 different species that had previously been unknown in this continent have been described, both in arthropods and in clinical cases, fact that classifies them as emerging and reemerging diseases. Given the clinical manifestations of the diseases caused by rickettsias, being the majority unspecific and, therefore, shared with other infectious diseases, especially viral and bacterial, they have been framed within the differential diagnoses of acute febrile syndrome in urban and tropical areas. Nowadays, there are direct and indirect diagnostic methods, which are useful in the definition of the infectious agent, in this case, the cause of rickettsioses.

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v33i0.1466

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  • Marylin Hidalgo Grupo de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
  • Alvaro A. Faccini-Martínez Grupo de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
  • Gustavo Valbuena Pathology Department, University of Texas Medical Branch, Texas, USA
How to Cite
1.
Hidalgo M, Faccini-Martínez AA, Valbuena G. Tick-borne rickettsioses in the Americas: clinical and epidemiological advances, and diagnostic challenges. biomedica [Internet]. 2013 Aug. 1 [cited 2024 May 13];33(Sup1):161-78. Available from: https://revistabiomedica.org/index.php/biomedica/article/view/1466

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Published
2013-08-01

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