Boutonneuse fever
| Boutonneuse fever | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Mediterranean spotted fever |
Infectious disease | |
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Boutonneuse fever (also called Mediterranean spotted fever, fièvre boutonneuse, Kenya tick typhus, Indian tick typhus, Marseilles fever, or Astrakhan fever) is a
Presentation
After an incubation period around seven days, the disease manifests abruptly with chills, high fevers, muscular and articular pains, severe headache, and
petechial.[citation needed
]
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is made with
serologic methods, either the classic Weil–Felix test, (agglutination of Proteus OX strains), ELISA, or immunofluorescence
assays in the bioptic material of the primary lesion.
The Weil–Felix test demonstrated low sensitivity (33%) in diagnosing acute rickettsial infections and low specificity, with a positive titre of 1:320 seen in 54% of healthy volunteers and 62% of non-rickettsial fever patients. Therefore, the use of the WFT should be discouraged in the diagnosis of acute rickettsial infections.[citation needed]
Treatment
The illness can be treated with
fluoroquinolones.[citation needed
]