Clinical and laboratory ®ndings of boutonneuse fever in Sicilian children
نویسندگان
چکیده
The spectrum of signs and symptoms of 645 consecutive children diagnosed from 1984 to 1996 with boutonneuse fever (BF), a mild rickettsial disease caused by Rickettsia conorii endemic in the Mediterranean basin, are reported. The major clinical features were fever (97.2%), exanthema (96.1%) and ``tache noire'' (71.8%). The large series examined permitted the authors to observe some rare or disregarded clinical features of the disease: cases with papulovesicular exanthema, reported previously only in adults who had been infected by R. conorii in Africa; and cases in which the only symptom was an isolated lymphadenopathy. Conclusion R. conorii infection should be considered in patients with lymphadenopathy who live in or have travelled to an endemic area, even when other, more speci®c features, are not present. Also pox-like vesicular lesions may be caused by this organism, awaiting con®rmation by using culture techniques instead of serology. The serological con®rmation of BF by immuno ̄uorescent antibody test is possible only late in the illness.
منابع مشابه
Mediterranean spotted fever : clinical and laboratory characteristics of 415 Sicilian children and evaluation of different therapeutic strategies
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