Dataset Information

Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Outbreak Among a High School Football Team at an Outdoor Education Camping Trip, Arizona, 2014.

ABSTRACT: During August 2014, five high school students who had attended an outdoor education camp were hospitalized with a febrile illness, prompting further investigation. Ten total cases of tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) were identified-six cases confirmed by culture or visualization of spirochetes on blood smear and four probable cases with compatible symptoms (attack rate: 23%). All patients had slept in the campsite's only cabin. Before the camp, a professional pest control company had rodent proofed the cabin, but no acaricides had been applied. Cabin inspection after the camp found rodents and Ornithodoros ticks, the vector of TBRF. Blood samples from a chipmunk trapped near the cabin and from patients contained Borrelia hermsii with identical gene sequences (100% over 630 base pairs). Health departments in TBRF endemic areas should consider educating cabin owners and pest control companies to apply acaricides during or following rodent proofing, because ticks that lack rodents for a blood meal might feed on humans.

SUBMITTER: Jones JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5014256 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Outbreak Among a High School Football Team at an Outdoor Education Camping Trip, Arizona, 2014.

Jones Jefferson M JM Hranac Carter R CR Schumacher Mare M Horn Kim K Lee Darlene M DM Terriquez Joel J Engelthaler David M DM Peoples Marie M Corrigan Jennifer J Replogle Adam A Souders Nina N Komatsu Kenneth K KK Nieto Nathan C NC

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 20160718 3

During August 2014, five high school students who had attended an outdoor education camp were hospitalized with a febrile illness, prompting further investigation. Ten total cases of tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) were identified-six cases confirmed by culture or visualization of spirochetes on blood smear and four probable cases with compatible symptoms (attack rate: 23%). All patients had slept in the campsite's only cabin. Before the camp, a professional pest control company had rodent pro ...[more]

PMID: 27430539

Similar Datasets

Project description:Borrelia miyamotoi is a relapsing fever spirochete that shares the same vector as Lyme disease causing Borrelia. This epidemiological study of B. miyamotoi was conducted in rodent reservoirs, tick vectors and human populations simultaneously. A total of 640 rodents and 43 ticks were collected from Phop Phra district, Tak province, Thailand. The prevalence rate for all Borrelia species was 2.3% and for B. miyamotoi was 1.1% in the rodent population, while the prevalence rate was quite high in ticks collected from rodents with an infection rate of 14.5% (95% CI: 6.3-27.6%). Borrelia miyamotoi was detected in Ixodes granulatus collected from Mus caroli and Berylmys bowersi, and was also detected in several rodent species (Bandicota indica, Mus spp., and Leopoldamys sabanus) that live in a cultivated land, increasing the risk of human exposure. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the B. miyamotoi isolates detected in rodents and I. granulatus ticks in this study were similar to isolates detected in European countries. Further investigation was conducted to determine the serological reactivity to B. miyamotoi in human samples received from Phop Phra hospital, Tak province and in rodents captured from Phop Phra district using an in-house, direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assay with B. miyamotoi recombinant glycerophosphodiester-phosphodiesterase (rGlpQ) protein as coated antigen. The results showed that 17.9% (15/84) of human patients and 9.0% (41/456) of captured rodents had serological reactivity to B. miyamotoi rGlpQ protein in the study area. While a low level of IgG antibody titers (100-200) was observed in the majority of seroreactive samples, higher titers (400-1,600) were also detected in both humans and rodents. This study provides the first evidence of B. miyamotoi exposure in human and rodent populations in Thailand and the possible roles of local rodent species and Ixodes granulatus tick in its enzootic transmission cycle in nature.

Project description:Tick borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is a zoonosis caused by various Borrelia species transmitted to humans by both soft-bodied and (more recently recognized) hard-bodied ticks. In recent years, molecular diagnostic techniques have allowed to extend our knowledge on the global epidemiological picture of this neglected disease. Nevertheless, due to the patchy occurrence of the disease and the lack of large clinical studies, the knowledge on several clinical aspects of the disease remains limited. In order to shed light on some of these aspects, we have systematically reviewed the literature on TBRF and summarized the existing data on epidemiology and clinical aspects of the disease. Publications were identified by using a predefined search strategy on electronic databases and a subsequent review of the reference lists of the obtained publications. All publications reporting patients with a confirmed diagnosis of TBRF published in English, French, Italian, German, and Hungarian were included. Maps showing the epidemiogeographic mosaic of the different TBRF Borrelia species were compiled and data on clinical aspects of TBRF were analysed. The epidemiogeographic mosaic of TBRF is complex and still continues to evolve. Ticks harbouring TBRF Borrelia have been reported worldwide, with the exception of Antarctica and Australia. Although only molecular diagnostic methods allow for species identification, microscopy remains the diagnostic gold standard in most clinical settings. The most suggestive symptom in TBRF is the eponymous relapsing fever (present in 100% of the cases). Thrombocytopenia is the most suggestive laboratory finding in TBRF. Neurological complications are frequent in TBRF. Treatment is with beta-lactams, tetracyclines or macrolids. The risk of Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction (JHR) appears to be lower in TBRF (19.3%) compared to louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) (55.8%). The overall case fatality rate of TBRF (6.5%) and LBRF (4-10.2%) appears to not differ. Unlike LBRF, where perinatal fatalities are primarily attributable to abortion, TBRF-related perinatal fatalities appear to primarily affect newborns.

Dataset Information

Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Outbreak Among a High School Football Team at an Outdoor Education Camping Trip, Arizona, 2014.

Publications

Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Outbreak Among a High School Football Team at an Outdoor Education Camping Trip, Arizona, 2014.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets