In a recent conversation regarding zoonotic diseases in our community with Eric McDonald, MD, MPH, Medical Director of County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, we learned that he is very concerned about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever’s (RMSF) recent resurgence in Northern Mexico.
In April 2015 the Mexican Ministry of Health issued a Declaration of Epidemiologic Emergency to highlight “looming public health concerns” regarding RMSF, particularly in the states of Baja California and Sonora. (Sonora reported 80 fatal human cases in 2015).
Dr McDonald agreed that a heads up to the San Diego veterinary community was warranted. He provided me with a copy of the March 2017, The Lancet Infectious Disease, with a compressive report “Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Mexico: Past, Present, and Future”.
You can access the interesting article free of charge by simply registering with a user name and password.
www.TheLancet.com
Search: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
This is a Summary Prelude of the Article:
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a tick-borne zoonosis caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, is among the most lethal of all infectious diseases in the Americas. In Mexico, the disease was first described during the early 1940s by scientists who carefully documented specific environmental determinants responsible for devastating outbreaks in several communities in the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, Durango, and Coahuila. These investigators also described the pivotal roles of domesticated dogs and Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (brown dog ticks) as drivers of epidemic levels of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
After several decades of quiescence, the disease re-emerged in Sonora and Baja California during the early 21st century, driven by the same environmental circumstances that perpetuated outbreaks in Mexico during the 1940s. This Review explores the history of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Mexico, current epidemiology, and the multiple clinical, economic, and social challenges that must be considered in the control and prevention of this life-threatening illness.
— Pauline White