Tickborne Relapsing Fever, Bitterroot Valley, Montana, USA

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Source: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/2/14-1276_article


Tickborne Relapsing Fever, Bitterroot Valley, Montana, USA

Joshua Christensen, Robert J. Fischer, Brandi N. McCoy, Sandra J. Raffel, and Tom G. SchwanComments to Author
Author affiliations: St. Patrick Hospital, Missoula, Montana, USA (J. Christensen); University of Montana College of Health Professionals and Biomedical Sciences, Missoula (J. Christensen); National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, Montana, USA (R.J. Fischer, B.N. McCoy, S.J. Raffel, T.G. Schwan)
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Abstract

In July 2013, a resident of the Bitterroot Valley in western Montana, USA, contracted tickborne relapsing fever caused by an infection with the spirochete Borrelia hermsii. The patient?s travel history and activities before onset of illness indicated a possible exposure on his residential property on the eastern side of the valley. An onsite investigation of the potential exposure site found the vector, Ornithodoros hermsi ticks, and 1 chipmunk infected with spirochetes, which on the basis of multilocus sequence typing were identical to the spirochete isolated from the patient. Field studies in other locations found additional serologic evidence and an infected tick that demonstrated a wider distribution of spirochetes circulating among the small mammal populations. Our study demonstrates that this area of Montana represents a previously unrecognized focus of relapsing fever and poses a risk for persons of acquiring this tickborne disease...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.bitterrootstar.com/2015/01/20/tickborne-relapsing-fever-endemic-to-the-bitterroot/

Tickborne Relapsing Fever endemic to the Bitterroot
Posted on January 20, 2015 in Page One
By Michael Howell

Most Bitterrooters are familiar with the Rocky Mountain wood tick (Rickettsia rickettsia) that proliferates here during the spring and summer months, the ones known to occasionally transmit such diseases as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Colorado Tick Fever to humans. But another type of tick, Ornithodoros hermsi, not so well known and not so easily noticed, even when they are doing their bloody business, has now been conclusively identified as inhabiting the Bitterroot Valley following an investigation into the case of a Corvallis area resident who contracted Relapsing Fever in 2013...