A spotted fever is a type of
tick-borne disease which presents on the skin. They are all caused by
bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
of the
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''
Rickettsia''.
Typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
is a group of similar diseases also caused by ''Rickettsia'' bacteria, but spotted fevers and typhus are different clinical entities. Transmission process: When the tick latches on, it needs to be removed under 2 hours. If not noticed or unremoved it takes only 10 hours for the tick to transmit the (disease) to the human.
The phrase apparently originated in Spain in the 17th century and was ‘loosely applied in England to typhus or any fever involving
petechial eruptions.’ During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was thought to be "cousin-germane" to and herald of the
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...
, a disease which periodically afflicted the city of London and its environs during the 16th and 17th centuries, most notably during the
Great Plague of 1665.
[Daniel Defoe, ''A Journal of the Plague Year'', ed. Louis Landa (Oxford, 2010) 219.]
Types of spotted fevers include:
*
Helvetica spotted fever
*
Mediterranean spotted fever
*
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a bacterial disease spread by ticks. It typically begins with a fever and headache, which is followed a few days later with the development of a rash. The rash is generally Petechial rash, made up of small s ...
*
Queensland tick typhus
References
External links
Tick-borne diseases
Rickettsioses
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