Rocky Mountain spotted fever

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Antibodies	Deer ticks	Rocky mountain spotted fever, lesions on arm	Rocky mountain spotted fever, petechial rash
Rocky mountain spotted fever on the arm	Rocky mountain spotted fever on the foot	Tick imbedded in the skin	Ticks

Spotted fever

• fever
• chills
• incubation period of 2 to 14 days
• severe headache
• muscle pain
• mental confusion
• rash, first appearing on wrists and ankles, then spreading to most of the body, usually starts a few days after fever starts; up to 20% of people do not get a rash

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• excessive thirst
• nausea and vomiting
• hallucinations
• diarrhea
• loss of appetite 
• abnormal sensitivity to light

• low platelets
• low red blood cell count in 30% of patients
• possible renal failure, elevated creatinine
• possible clotting problems, elevated PT and PTT
• blood in the urine and protein in the urine
• antibody titer by complement fixation or immunofluorescence that indicates the presence of infection
• skin biopsy at the site of the rash may show the Rickettsia rickettsii

Review Date: 06/15/2005
Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.