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/lp/american-medical-association/tick-borne-typhus-rocky-mountain-spotted-fever-epidemiologic-trends-02LP3LGFrk
- Publisher
- American Medical Association
- Copyright
- Copyright © 1971 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
- ISSN
- 0098-7484
- eISSN
- 1538-3598
- DOI
- 10.1001/jama.1971.03180320047009
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
Abstract In 1969, there was more than a 50% increase in the reported incidence of tick-borne typhus in the United States. This dramatic increase caps a ten-year trend of an ever-increasing number of cases of this disease. Virginia led the states in the major endemic area of the nation, the Piedmont plateau of the Southeast, with 91 reported cases. Yearly fluctuations may be attributable to climatic conditions influencing the relative number of ticks, but the long-term trend of increasing human morbidity is promoted by the apparently inexorable forces of population growth and land-use changes. More attention to precautionary measures by the public, as well as a heightened awareness of physicians, in major endemic states may prevent some deaths. Treatment should not await serological confirmation. References 1. Wood, cited by Rucker WC: Rocky Mountain spotted fever . Public Health Rep 27:3-21, 1912. 2. Hazard GW, Ganz RN, Nevin RW, et al: Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the eastern United States: Thirteen cases from the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts . New Eng J Med 280:57-61, 1969.Crossref 3. Miller JK: Rocky Mountain spotted fever on Long Island . Ann Intern Med 33: 1398-1406, 1950.Crossref 4. Price WH: The epidemiology of Rocky Mountain spotted fever: Studies on the biological survival mechanism of Rickettsia rickettsii . Amer J Hyg 60:292-319, 1954. 5. Spencer FJ: Tick-borne disease in Virginia, 1949-1958: An ecological note . Amer J Trop Med 10:220-222, 1961. 6. Atwood EL, Lamb JT Jr, Sonenshine DE: A contribution to the epidemiology of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the eastern United States . Amer J Trop Med 14:831-837, 1965. 7. Rothenberg R, Sonenshine DE: The ecology of ticks transmitting Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the eastern United States: Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Virginia: Clinical and epidemiological features . J Med Entom , to be published. 8. Sonenshine DE, Atwood EL, Lamb JT Jr: The ecology of ticks transmitting Rocky Mountain spotted fever in a study area in Virginia . Ann Entom Soc Amer 59: 1234-1262, 1966. 9. Lackman DB, Gerloff RK: The effect of antibiotic therapy upon diagnostic and serologic tests for Rocky Mountain spotted fever . Public Health Lab 11:97-99, 1953. 10. Hersey DF, Colvin MC, Shepard CC: Studies on the serologic diagnosis of murine typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever: Human infections . J Immun 79:409-415, 1957. 11. Schubert JH: Serologic titers in Rickettsial infection as affected by antibiotic treatment . Public Health Lab 10: 38-41, 1952. 12. Parker RR: Rocky Mountain spotted fever . JAMA 110:1273-1278, 1938.Crossref 13. Harrel GT: Rocky Mountain spotted fever . Medicine 28:333-370, 1949. 14. Cohen AB, Fabrikant IB, Hatgi JN, et al: Complement fixing antibody response of man to yolk sac-grown Rocky Mountain spotted fever vaccine . Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 128:191-195, 1968.Crossref 15. McCroan JE, Ramsey RL, Murphy WJ, et al: The status of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the southeastern United States . Public Health Rep 70:319-325, 1955.Crossref 16. Parker RR: Rocky Mountain spotted fever . JAMA 110:1185-1188, 1938.Crossref 17. Smadel JE: Status of the rickettsioses in the United States . Ann Intern Med 5:421-435, 1959. 18. Audy JR: The localization of disease with special reference to the zoonoses . Trans Roy Soc Trop Med Hyg 52:308-333, 1958.Crossref
Journal
JAMA – American Medical Association
Published: May 10, 1971