Rocky Mountain spotted fever - Page 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain_spotted_fever

Signs and symptoms
Rocky Mountain spotted fever can be very difficult to diagnose in its early stages, even among experienced physicians who are familiar with the disease.

People infected with R. rickettsii usually notice symptoms following an incubation period of one to two weeks after a tick bite. The early clinical presentation of Rocky Mountain spotted fever is nonspecific and may resemble a variety of other infectious and non-infectious diseases.

Initial symptoms may include:

fever
nausea
emesis
severe headache
muscle pain
lack of appetite
Later signs and symptoms include:

maculopapular rash
petechial rash
abdominal pain
joint pain
The classic triad of findings for this disease are fever, rash, and history of tick bite. However, this combination is often not identified when the patient initially presents for care. The rash has a centripetal,or "inward" pattern of spread, meaning it begins at the extremities and courses towards the trunk.

The rash first appears 2–5 days after the onset of fever and is often very subtle. Younger patients usually develop the rash earlier than older patients. Most often it begins as small, flat, pink, non-itchy spots (macules) on the wrists, forearms, and ankles. These spots turn pale when pressure is applied and eventually become raised on the skin. The characteristic red, spotted (petechial) rash of Rocky Mountain spotted fever is usually not seen until the sixth day or later after onset of symptoms, but this type of rash occurs in only 35% to 60% of patients with Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The rash involves the palms or soles in as many as 50% to 80% of patients; however, this distribution may not occur until later in the course of the disease. As many as 10% to 15% of patients may never develop a rash.

Abnormal laboratory findings seen in patients with Rocky Mountain spotted fever may include thrombocytopenia, hyponatremia, or elevated liver enzyme levels.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever can be a very severe illness and patients often require hospitalization. Because R. rickettsii infects the cells lining blood vessels throughout the body, severe manifestations of this disease may involve the respiratory system, central nervous system, gastrointestinal system, or renal system. Host factors associated with severe or fatal Rocky Mountain spotted fever include advanced age, male sex, African-American race, chronic alcohol abuse, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. Deficiency of G6PD is a sex-linked genetic condition affecting approximately 12% of the U.S. African-American male population; deficiency of this enzyme is associated with a high proportion of severe cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. This is a rare clinical course that is often fatal within 5 days of onset of illness.

Long-term health problems following acute Rocky Mountain spotted fever infection include partial paralysis of the lower extremities, gangrene requiring amputation of fingers, toes, or arms or legs, hearing loss, loss of bowel or bladder control, movement disorders, and language disorders. These complications are most frequent in persons recovering from severe, life-threatening disease, often following lengthy hospitalizations.

It is an attempt to insulate herself, when she reverts back to only posting ainapproriate political nonsense. Then, she can point to all these threads she slapped up this week to refute. :-)

 Ehrlichiosis is a far greater danger to dogs than is RMSF.  Puppies from infected bitches are in danger, and the disease killed a large number of military dogs in Viet Nam.

 Correct Micky D.

And it is not aptly named because it is hardly ever seen in the Rocky Mountain region.

Merry Christmas Micky D!!

wikipedia is not my source for reliable information.

Good for you Moons in understanding what Wiki is and is not. You are wise!!

And that was a great pickup on fixing the computer. It is always handy when one can do things like that, and saves money for certain. Glad you got it fixed and are back.

Thanks Hodie,
Me too.

When the puter goes its a panic attack !!
What on earth will I do?
How will I survive!!!
My garden needs water !!!
LOL

A sigh of relief to know I didn't have to buy another computer, I already have four.
Sadly they become antiques rather quickly,   I had power supplies but none were compatible.
Its good to be home....:)

Moons.

 Thanks, Hodie.  I live on the east coast.  I know of a man who died of RMSF in Virginia, although it was years ago.  It took the doctors too long to diagnose him, poor fellow.   A friend of mine moved to the east coast from Denver, and for the first time has to keep ticks at bay.  

We're hunkering down, waiting to get nailed by a huge snowstorm.  The dogs will be thrilled, not so the humans.
A Merry Christmas to you and everyone else on the forum.  

 Micky D,

RMSF can be very, very serious. Of course, we do have ticks here too. Some years are worse than others, and other diseases are more often transmitted.

We are expecting very cold temps and perhaps some snow next week. Actually, if we do get snow, close to Christmas it is unusual, and the snow will probably come T or W. It is the cold and the wind here that is the killer.

I see a big storm headed back east. Stay safe and warm..... We just had -25 degree temps a little more than a week ago and I am very glad they have passed.

Moons, boy are you correct about obsolescence. I have a MAC G3 laptop that I cannot bring myself to throw out, but it is only good for a few things and cannot be upgraded, even at great expense. I just hate thowing it out as much as I hate to even consider throwing out a book. I usually look at the book to see if it is something a library might like, but in the case of science books and medical books in particular, they often are really obsolete in just a few years.

Anyway, happy to hear you got it all resolved. Are you about to get slammed too by bad weather?