Relapsing Fever
Relapsing fever borreliosis often occurs with severe bacteremia. Borrelia recurrentis is transmitted by the human body louse; no other animal reservoir of B. recurrentis is known. 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.
Other tick-borne relapsing infections are acquired from other species, such as Borrelia hermsii or Borrelia parkeri or Borrelia miyamotoi, 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.
Laboratory test
- Immunoflourascent or confirm by serology by observing the organism in blood of patient.
Read more about this topic: Borrelia
Famous quotes containing the word fever:
“When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked.... In other words, I don’t improve, in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)