Relapsing Fever

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Michael D. Malison, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 1979-06-29
• Publisher: American Medical Association (AMA): JAMA
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 1979, American Medical Association
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1979.03290520043026
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of the American Medical Association
• ISSN: 0098-7484
• Volume: 241
• Issue: 26
• Start Page: 2819
• End Page: 2819
• Keywords: borrelia; epidemic; human reservoirs; louse-borne; animal reservoirs; spirochetes; endemic; tick-borne; relapsing fever
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

Relapsing fever is an uncommonly diagnosed disease in this country (12 cases reported in 1977).1 The few cases reported each year mainly occur in the western United States, and only recently has a case been documented that originated east of the Mississippi.2 Two forms of relapsing fever are recognized, louse-borne (epidemic) and tick-borne (endemic). Both are caused by spirochetes of the genus Borrelia and have similar symptoms. The louse-borne variety requires a human reservoir and is common in many other parts of the world. The only case of louse-borne relapsing fever reported in this century in the United States was in a recent Ethiopian immigrant,3 but tick-borne relapsing fever has many endemic foci in North America, largely because of the prevalence of animal reservoirs.