Abstract
This chapter discusses the natural history of tick-borne American spotted fever. In a program to re-evaluate the ecological factors responsible for persistence and distribution of Rickettsia rickettsi in western Montana, susceptibility to virulent strain was determined quantitatively for various small, wild mammals known to serve as hosts for the immature stages of the tick vector, Dermacentor andersoni. When bitten by infected ticks, Columbian ground squirrels, golden-mantled ground squirrels, chipmunks, and meadow mice developed rickettsemias that appeared as early as three days and lasted as long as 5–9 days. In analyzing significance of the host animals as sources of infection for larval D. andersoni, it was found that only ticks that fed on Columbian ground squirrels, golden-mantled ground squirrels, chipmunks, meadow mice, and snowshoe hares during peak of rickettsemias showed high infection rates; those that fed during initial or final stages ingested small numbers of rickettsiae but did not become infected permanently.
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