Prospective evaluation of rickettsioses in the Trakya (European) Region of Turkey in 2005

Abstract

Several rickettsial diseases have been reported in the Mediterranean basin, including Mediterranean spotted fever, caused by Rickettsia conorii and transmitted by Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks, tick-borne lymphadenopathy, caused by Rickettsia slovaca and transmitted by Dermacentor marginatus ticks, Rickettsia mongolitimonae infection, transmitted by Hyalomma spp. ticks, Rickettsia helvetica infection, transmitted by Ixodes ricinus ticks, and flea-borne spotted fever, caused by Rickettsia felis and transmitted by cat fleas (Ctenocephalides felis) [1]. Since 2003, prospective surveillance and serological and molecular diagnosis of rickettsioses in the Trakya Region of Turkey has been conducted by the Trakya University in Edirne and the Universite de la Mediterranee in Marseille [1,2]. In 2003 and 2004, 22 patients were diagnosed as spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsioses, using molecular diagnostic methods [1,2]. R. conorii was previously isolated from the skin biopsy specimens of three of ten patients, and was also demonstrated by PCR in skin biopsy specimens of nine of ten patients [1]. From May to September 2005, 24 patients with SFG rickettsioses were admitted into the Trakya University Hospital, a tertiary-care hospital in Edirne. In this prospective study, our aim was to isolate and identify the rickettsial strains from skin biopsy specimens and blood samples of these 24 patients diagnosed with spotted fever in the Trakya Region of Turkey in 2005. M A T E R I A L S A N D M E T H O D S