African tick-bite fever. An imported spotless rickettsiosis.

Abstract

With increasing international travel, a need for the recognition of rickettsial diseases by physicians is becoming more important. Tick-bite fever, a disease caused by R africae and transmitted by Amblyomma ticks, is characterized by multiple taches noire, lymphadenopathy, lymphangitis, and edema, but no rash or a discrete rash. It is a frequent but benign disease that physicians should consider when presented with febrile patients returning from southern Africa.