Volume 13, Number 2—February 2007
Letter
African Tickbite Fever in Travelers, Swaziland
Paul M. Oostvogel*
, Gerard J. van Doornum†, Russouw Ferreira‡, Jacqueline Vink*, Florence Fenollar§, and Didier Raoult§
, Gerard J. van Doornum†, Russouw Ferreira‡, Jacqueline Vink*, Florence Fenollar§, and Didier Raoult§Table
Clinical and serologic characteristics of 12 travelers with African tickbite fever, Swaziland, 2003*
| T | Sex/ age, y | Fever/headache/ myalgia/rash | Tickbite/ eschar site/ lymph. site | Sera | Rotterdam, the Netherlands | Marseille, France | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rickettsia conorii IgG/IgM† | R. rickettsii IgG/IgM† | R. conorii IgG/IgM† | R. africae IgG/IgM† | WB | WB ads. | |||||
| 1 | F/47 | Y/N/Y/Y | N/N/groin | A | 0/32 | 32/32 | 0/0 | 0/0 | NT | NT |
| C | >128/>128 | >128/32 | 128/0 | 128/0 | + | Ra | ||||
| 2 | M/14 | Y/Y/N/N | Y/foot/groin | A | >64/>64 | >64/>64 | 32/0 | 64/0 | + | Ra |
| C | >128/32 | >128/16 | 256/0 | 256/0 | NT | NT | ||||
| 3 | M/13 | N/N/N/N | N/N/N | A | 0/0 | 32/0 | 0/16 | 0/16 | + | NC |
| C | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/16 | 0/16 | NT | NT | ||||
| 4 | M/10 | N/N/N/N | N/N/groin | A | >64/>64 | >64/>64 | 0/16 | 0/32 | + | Ra |
| C | >128/32 | >128/16 | 0/64 | 0/64 | NT | NT | ||||
| 5 | M/50 | Y/Y/N/Y | N/N/groin | A | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | NT | NT |
| C | >128/>128 | >128/32 | 64/8 | 64/8 | + | NC | ||||
| 6 | M/13 | N/N/N/N | N/N/groin | A | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | NT | NT |
| C | >128/16 | >128/16 | 32/16 | 32/16 | + | Ra | ||||
| 7 | M/11 | Y/N/N/N | N/N/retro. | A | 0/0 | 32/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | NT | NT |
| C | 0/>128 | 16/32 | 0/32 | 0/32 | + | NC | ||||
| 8 | F/47 | Y/Y/Y/Y | N/mult./groin | A | 0/0 | 32/0 | 0/16 | 0/16 | + | NC |
| C | >128/16 | >128/0 | 32/8 | 32/8 | NT | NT | ||||
| 9 | M/5 | Y/N/N/N | Y/thumb/ axillary | C | NT/NT | NT/NT | 0/0 | 0/0 | Ra | NT |
| 10 | M/44 | Y/Y/Y/N | N/shoulder/ axillary | C | 32/32 | >128/>128 | 0/0 | 0/0 | + | Ra |
| 11 | F/10 | N/N/N/N | N/N/trunk | C | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | + | Ra |
| 12 | M/50 | N/N/N/N | N/N/N | C | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/8 | 0/16 | + | Ra |
*T, traveler; lymph., lymphadenopathy; IgG, immunoglobulin G; WB = Western blot; WB ads., WB after cross-adsorption that removed antibodies to R. conorii; Y, yes; N, no; A, acute phase; NT, not tested; C, convalescent phase; +, positive for R. africae and R. conorii; Ra, positive for R. africae; NC, not conclusive; retro., retroauricular; mult., multiple.
†Ratio of titers.
