Mediterranean spotted fever: a benign zoonosis?

• Autor(a) principal: Louro, Emília
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Outros Autores: Campos, Ana, Leitão, Jorge, Carvalho, Armando, Santos, Rui, Reis, Conceição, Almiro, Eurico, Porto, Armando
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.spmi.pt/index.php/rpmi/article/view/1583
• topic: febre escaro-nodular; Rickettsia conorii; escara de inoculação; exantema; Mediterranean spotted fever; ricketta conorii; black eschar; rash

Mediterranean spotted fever is a rickettsiosis with a predominance during the summer months, endemic in the Mediterranean region. Rickettsia conorii, microorganism responsable for the disease, is a small intracellular gram-negative bacillus, transmitted accidentally to man by the Riphicephalus sanguineus arthropod. The classical triad is characterized by fever, rash (with palm and sole distribution) and black eschar. After a mean incubation period of 3 to 7 days, clinical symptoms appear. Although Mediterranean spotted fever is usually a benign disease, serious complications can occur specially in older patients and patients with underlying chronic diseases (diabetes mellitus, heart failure, alcoholism, etc.).The authors conducted a retrospective study of the patients hospitalized in an Internal Medicine ward with Mediterranean spotted fever during a period of 10 years (1994-2003) focusing on the epidemiology, clinical and laboratory manifestations and complications of the disease.