Isolation of a Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia from a Patient with Febrile Exanthematous Illness in Shikoku, Japan

Abstract

Rickettsial infections of spotted fever group (SFG) have been experienced recently in the areas along the southeast coast of Shikoku, one of Japan's four principal islands (9). In the preceding paper, we reported that all sera from patients with a characteristic febrile exanthematous illness reacted with Rickettsia montana of SFG in the immunofluorescence (IF) test ( This communication describes the isolation of a causative agent of the illness from blood of a patient.