Relapsing fever

Relapsing fever

| MeshID = D012061

Relapsing fever is an infection caused by certain bacteria in the genus "Borrelia".cite journal |author=Schwan T |title=Ticks and Borrelia: model systems for investigating pathogen-arthropod interactions |journal=Infect Agents Dis |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=167–81 |year=1996 |pmid=8805079] It is a vector-borne disease that is transmitted through louse or soft-bodied tick bites.cite journal | author=Schwan T, Piesman J | title=Vector interactions and molecular adaptations of Lyme disease and relapsing fever spirochetes associated with transmission by ticks. | journal=Emerg Infect Dis | volume=8 | issue=2 | pages=115–21 | year=2002 | url=http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no2/01-0198.htm |pmid=11897061 ]

Infection

Louse-borne relapsing fever

"Borrelia " recurrentis is the only agent of louse-borne disease. "Pediculus humanus", is the specific vector. Louse-borne relapsing fever is more severe than the tick-borne variety.

Louse-borne relapsing fever occurs in epidemics amid poor living conditions, famine and war in the developing world;cite journal |author=Cutler S |title=Possibilities for relapsing fever reemergence |journal=Emerg Infect Dis |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=369–74 |year=2006 |pmid=16704771] it is currently prevalent in Ethiopia and Sudan.

Mortality rate is 1% with treatment; 30-70% without treatment. Poor prognostic signs include severe jaundice, severe change in mental status, severe bleeding, and prolonged QT interval on ECG.

Lice that feed on infected humans acquire the "Borrelia" organisms that then multiply in the gut of the louse. When an infected louse feeds on an uninfected human, the organism gains access when the victim crushes the louse or scratches the area where the louse is feeding. "B. recurrentis" infects the person via mucous membranes and then invades the bloodstream. No animal reservoir exists.

Tick-borne Relapsing Fever

Other relapsing infections are acquired from other "Borrelia" species, such as "Borrelia hermsii" or "Borrelia parkeri", which can be spread from rodents, and serve as a reservoir for the infection, via a tick vector. "Borrelia hermsii" and "Borrelia recurrentis" cause very similar diseases although the disease associated with "Borrelia hermsii" has more relapses and is responsible for more fatalities, while the disease caused by "B. recurrentis" has longer febrile and afebrile intervals and a longer incubation period.

Tick-borne relapsing fever is found primarily in Africa, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Asia, and certain areas in the Western U.S. and Canada.

Diagnosis

Most people who are infected get sick around 5-15 days after they are bitten by the tick. The symptoms may include a sudden fever, chills, headaches, and muscle or joint aches, and nausea; a rash may also occur. These symptoms continue for 2-9 days, then disappear. This cycle may continue for several weeks if the person is not treated.cite book | author = Ryan KJ; Ray CG (editors) | title = Sherris Medical Microbiology | pages = pp. 432–4 |edition = 4th ed. | publisher = McGraw Hill | year = 2004 | id = ISBN 0838585299 ] Relapsing Fever is easily treated with 1-2 weeks of antibiotics. Most people improve within 24 hours of starting antibiotics. Complications and death due to relapsing fever are rare.

Relapsing fever is a candidate etiology for a mysterious series of plagues in late medieval and early renaissance-era England referred to at the time as sweating sickness but which have not recurred in epidemic form since the 16th Century.

Treatment

Antibiotics of the tetracycline class are most effective, but may induce a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, which occurs in over 50% of patients. This reaction produces apprehension, diaphoresis, fever, tachycardia, and tachypnea with an initial pressor response followed rapidly by hypotension. Recent studies have shown that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) may be partly responsible for the reaction.

ee also

*Lyme disease
*Typhus

References

External links

*
* [http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/RelapsingFever/index.htm CDC: Relapsing Fever]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • relapsing fever — n any of several forms of an acute epidemic infectious disease marked by sudden recurring paroxysms of high fever lasting from five to seven days, articular and muscular pains, and a sudden crisis and caused by a spirochete of the genus Borrelia… …   Medical dictionary

  • Relapsing fever — Relapsing Re*laps ing, a. Marked by a relapse; falling back; tending to return to a former worse state. [1913 Webster] {Relapsing fever} (Med.), an acute, epidemic, contagious fever, which prevails also endemically in Ireland, Russia, and some… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • relapsing fever — n. any of various acute infectious diseases caused by certain spirochetes (genus Borrelia) transmitted by ticks or lice, and characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and chills …   English World dictionary

  • Relapsing fever — (engl., spr. rĭläppsing fihwer), Rückfalltyphus …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • relapsing fever — Pathol. one of a group of fevers characterized by relapses, occurring in many tropical countries, and caused by several species of spirochetes transmitted by several species of lice and ticks. Also called recurrent fever. [1840 50] * * *… …   Universalium

  • relapsing fever — noun marked by recurring high fever and transmitted by the bite of infected lice or ticks; characterized by episodes of high fever and chills and headache and muscle pain and nausea that recur every week or ten days for several months • Syn:… …   Useful english dictionary

  • relapsing fever — an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Borrelia, which is transmitted by ticks or lice and results in recurrent fever. The first episode of fever occurs about a week after infection: it is accompanied by severe headache and aching… …   The new mediacal dictionary

  • relapsing fever — noun Date: 1849 a variable acute epidemic disease that is marked by recurring high fever usually lasting three to seven days and is caused by a spirochete (genus Borrelia) transmitted by the bites of lice and ticks …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • relapsing fever — attacks of fever that recur and repeat …   English contemporary dictionary

  • relapsing fever — noun an infectious bacterial disease marked by recurrent fever …   English new terms dictionary

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