Tick-borne rickettsioses, neglected emerging diseases in rural Senegal.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Rickettsioses are one of the most important causes of systemic febrile illness among travelers from developed countries, but little is known about their incidence in indigenous populations, especially in West Africa.

Methodology/principal findings

Overall seroprevalence evaluated by immunofluorescence using six rickettsial antigens (spotted fever and typhus group) in rural populations of two villages of the Sine-Saloum region of Senegal was found to be 21.4% and 51% for spotted fever group rickettsiae for Dielmo and Ndiop villages, respectively. We investigated the role of tick-borne rickettsiae as the cause of acute non-malarial febrile diseases in the same villages. The incidence of rickettsial DNA in 204 blood samples from 134 (62M and 72F) febrile patients neg

SUBMITTER: Mediannikov O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2939048 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature