Rickettsial Infections Causing Acute Febrile Illness in Urban Slums, Brazil

Abstract

We conducted enhanced acute febrile illness surveillance in an urban slum community in Salvador, Brazil. We found that rickettsial infection accounted for 3.5% of urgent care visits for acute fever. Our results suggest that rickettsiae might be an underrecognized, treatable cause of acute febrile illness in impoverished urban populations in Brazil.

Keywords

• Rickettsia
• bacteria
• parasites
• vector-borne infections
• zoonoses
• spotted fever group rickettsiae