Four people who attended the same event on a farm in Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo, died from a disease called “Rocky Mountain spotted fever.” The cases drew attention due to the severity of the illness, which led these individuals to death within a few days.
The Brazil registered only 49 cases of spotted fever throughout this year, according to an update from the Ministry of Health made on Tuesday (13). Of this total, six progressed to the death of the patient. The Southeast Region is where most of the records are concentrated, with 25 deaths.
In 2022, 190 cases of the disease were reported in Brazil, with 70 deaths.
What is spotted fever?
It is a disease transmitted by the star tick, infected by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii. The star tick is not the common tick that we usually find on dogs – the species Amblyomma cajennense, which transmits the disease, is typically found on large animals (cattle, horses, etc.), dogs, domestic birds, opossums, rabbits, and especially, capybaras.
Transmission
For the disease to be transmitted, the infected tick must remain attached to the skin of individuals for at least four hours. Younger and smaller ticks are the most dangerous because they are harder to see. There is no transmission of the disease from one person to another.
Symptoms
The disease begins suddenly with a set of symptoms similar to those of other infections: high fever, body aches, headache, loss of appetite, and malaise. Then, small reddish spots appear that grow and become raised. These lesions, resembling flea bites, sometimes present small hemorrhages under the skin; they appear all over the body and also on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, which generally does not happen in other diseases like measles, rubella, or hemorrhagic dengue, for example. For this reason, the doctor must observe the patient’s history, especially if they have been in areas where there are horses or wild animals or in places where cases of spotted fever have been reported. Symptoms take an average of seven to ten days to manifest, and from there, treatment should be initiated within a maximum of five days. After this period, there is a serious risk that the medications will no longer have the desired effect.
Treatment
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is curable as long as antibiotic treatment is started within the first two or three days. Ideally, the medication should be maintained for ten to fourteen days, but even with the first doses, the condition begins to regress and evolves towards total recovery. Delays in diagnosis and, consequently, in the start of treatment can lead to serious complications, such as impairment of the central nervous system, kidneys, lungs, vascular lesions, and can lead to death.
Prevention
To protect yourself and facilitate the visibility of ticks, it is very important that people, when entering bushy areas, wear long pants and light-colored shirts, and preferably, boots. The bottom of the pants should be tucked inside the boots and sealed with adhesive tape. If possible, avoid walking in areas known to be infested with ticks, and every two hours, check for any that may be attached to your body. The sooner it is removed, the lower the risk of infection. When removing a tick, do not crush it with your nails. Crushing can release bacteria that can penetrate through small lesions in the skin; also, do not force the tick to detach by touching it with a hot needle or matchstick. Stress causes it to release a large amount of saliva, which increases the chances of transmitting the bacteria that cause the disease. Ticks should be removed carefully, by gently twisting, so that their mouth releases from the skin. There are also repellents with higher concentrations of the chemical DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), which are effective against mosquitoes and ticks.
Stay alert
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is more common between the months of June and November in Brazil.
Source: Agência Brasil and Ministry of Health