Abstract
We describe two patients who had Rocky Mountain spotted fever after they were admitted to the hospital for emergency and elective surgical procedures. We initially thought one patient had a hospital-acquired infection; the correct diagnosis was deduced from epidemiologic clues elicited by consultants. These two cases were also unusual in that one patient had a recurrent rash after an abbreviated course of low-dose doxycycline therapy and the other patient had transient and self-limiting postinfectious polyneuropathy. These cases illustrate that community-acquired infection with Rickettsia rickettsii can occur simultaneously with other disease processes and sometimes mimic a nosocomial infection.
MeSH terms
-
Amputation, Traumatic / surgery
-
Anti-Bacterial Agents / administration & dosage
-
Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
-
Community-Acquired Infections / diagnosis
-
Coronary Artery Bypass
-
Cross Infection / diagnosis*
-
Diagnosis, Differential
-
Doxycycline / administration & dosage
-
Doxycycline / therapeutic use
-
Elective Surgical Procedures
-
Emergencies
-
Female
-
Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct
-
Follow-Up Studies
-
Hospitalization*
-
Humans
-
Male
-
Mastication / physiology
-
Middle Aged
-
Paresthesia / microbiology
-
Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / microbiology
-
Recurrence
-
Referral and Consultation
-
Replantation
-
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / diagnosis*
-
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / drug therapy
-
Taste Disorders / microbiology
-
Thumb / injuries
-
Vasculitis, Leukocytoclastic, Cutaneous / microbiology
Substances
-
Anti-Bacterial Agents
-
Doxycycline