Three dead, two hospitalized after outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever as CDC warns anyone with symptoms of the tickborne disease to start treatment without waiting for rest results
- All five cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever have occurred since July after cases visited Tecate, Baja California.
- RMSF is a potentially fatal disease transmitted through the bite of an infected tick.
- Symptoms include fever, headache and a patchy pink rash.
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized in an outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
All five cases of the tick-borne illness were identified in Southern California and involved people who had traveled to Tecate, Baja California, within the previous two weeks.
Four of the cases were minors and three were U.S. citizens, with all five occurring since July.
The CDC is now warning anyone with symptoms to begin treatment immediately without waiting for test results.
“If a person develops a rash or fever after being bitten, they should contact a doctor and tell them about the tick bite, when they were bitten and where they think it happened,” the agency said.
Three people died and five were hospitalized after contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a tick-borne disease.
All five cases of the tick-borne disease were identified in Southern California and involved people who had traveled to Tecate, Baja California, over the previous two weeks.
RMSF is one of the deadliest tick-borne diseases in America.
The bacterial disease is spread by the bite of an infected tick, including the American dog tick and the Rocky Mountain tick, and cannot be transmitted from person to person.
Most people who get RMSF have a fever, headache, and rash. RMSF can be fatal if not treated promptly with the correct antibiotic.
There is no vaccine against RMSF and it can only be prevented by taking precautions against tick bites.
The CDC recommends using insect repellent and protective clothing.
About one person in 20,000 is bitten by a tick infected with RSMF, which carries a bacterium called Rickettsia ricketsii.
Jackson Oblisk contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which left him with a rash all over his body, high fever and swelling all over his body in 2019.
Jackson became so sensitive that his mother Kayla (right) said he could touch a stye without screaming in pain. The CDC urges anyone with symptoms to begin treatment immediately without waiting for test results.
When insects bite and burrow their heads under a person’s skin, the mites can transmit harmful bacteria to that person.
The bacteria quickly spread through the bloodstream, lymph nodes, and systems carrying immune cells and fluids.
Ricketsia ricketsii attacks blood vessels, and the damage they cause can cause leakage, which in turn causes swelling.
The infection most often occurs in children between five and nine years of age.
Between 3,000 and 7,000 cases of RMSF and other spotted rickettsial diseases are reported annually in the United States.
This comes after a 2-year-old Kentucky boy was left in a coma for a week after contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) in 2019.
Jackson Oblisk was hospitalized with a fever of 105 degrees and a pink, dotted rash all over his body before an infection attacked his brain and he fell into a coma.
His mother, Kayla Oblisk, said the boy was in so much pain that he could not be touched without screaming.