A 68-year-old woman developed a rash of 103 F (39.5 C) all over her body after contracting Japanese spotted fever from a tick that bit her right ankle.
The unnamed woman arrived at Narita Hospital just outside Tokyo, Japan, five days after she developed a small rash on her arms and legs.
Doctors then saw him move towards his palms and feet. The lesions that opened before a two-week course of minocycline antibiotics kept him under control. Tests revealed that he was infected with bacteria carried by the tick, scientifically called Rickettsia japonica.
More than 300 cases of the disease are recorded in Japan, where it occurs each year, but very few cases are seen in other countries. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that it can still be detected in the United States in travelers who have just returned from the Asian country.
Above is the palm of a woman infected with Japanese spotted fever. About a week before symptoms began, she said she was bitten by a tick on her right ankle.
The prickly rash has also spread to the legs, trunk, arms, palms and soles. He improved after starting two weeks of antibiotic therapy.
MD, a doctor at Narita Hospital International Health and Welfare University, who led the research published in the New Englands Journal of Medicine. Kosuke Ishizuka hoped to raise awareness about the disease.
It is not clear when he came to the doctor for treatment. After two weeks of treatment, his condition improved.
Japanese spotted fever can only be caught by a tick bite, and at least eight species in Japan and several species in South Korea are known to carry the disease.
Patients tend to have a rash that covers large areas of the body, fever and headache.
In severe cases, liver dysfunction may also develop. About one in 100 infected people die from the disease.
Japanese health officials recommend that patients be treated with an antibiotic as soon as an infection is suspected, even before tests confirm this.
The CDC warns that it may reach the United States: “People can be exposed to this tick-borne bacteria when they travel outside the United States.
“Healthcare professionals should be aware of these diseases in patients with signs and symptoms common to other spotted fevers and with a history of travel within two weeks of illness onset.”
Japanese spotted fever is caused by bacteria from the Rickettsia family, and some species are also carried by ticks in the United States.
The most dangerous of these – Rickettssia rickettsii – causes Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
Patients enrolled in all states of the United States except Alaska and Hawaii tend to develop fever and headache in the early stages.
But the infection can then quickly develop into a serious and life-threatening illness.
These patients’ legs, arms, fingers or toes may be amputated due to damage to blood vessels, as well as hearing loss, paralysis and intellectual disability.
The rash usually develops two to four days after the fever and may appear as “red spots” or “sharp spots”.
As with the Japanese type, patients are given an antibiotic to fight the infection.
More than 6,000 cases of this disease are reported each year across the country.
About four percent of patients die from the disease, but this can reach 30 percent in those who do not receive treatment.
Source: Daily Mail
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