Volume 19, Number 5—May 2013
Dispatch
Detecting Rickettsia parkeri Infection from Eschar Swab Specimens
Figure

Figure. . . Acute eschar of patient who was subsequently diagnosed with Rickettsia parkeri infection in Pensacola, Florida, USA, in August 2011. This same eschar was unsheathed and swabbed after 14 days of antimicrobial drug treatment and had undergone significant healing. It still gave a positive result by real time PCR, although the convalescent-phase blood specimen showed a negative result.