ABSTRACT
RICKETTSIA SIBIRICA SIBIRICA (SIBERIAN TICK TYPHUS, NORTH ASIAN TICK TYPHUS) R. sibirica is the causative agent of Siberian tick typhus (STT), an SFG rickettsiosis that was first described in the Russian Far East near the Pacific Ocean. The disease was simultaneously observed in the 1930s in two neighboring territories-Primorye (Maritime) region by Mill (1) and in Khabarovsk region by Antonov and Naishtat (2)—and was described in manuscripts published in 1936-1937. The described illness was acute and febrile; skin manifestation presented with maculopapular rash, sometimes petechial. Typical epidemiology included tick bite three to five days before the onset of the disease. On the basis of these facts, Mill proposed a name of Primorye tick-borne fever. Studying the same problem independently, Antonov and Naishtat proposed to call it Far-Eastern tick-borne typhus. Later, in between 1935 and 1939 a similar disease was found in Central Siberia (3), in the Krasnoyarsk region. The etiology of the disease remained unknown, although rickettsial origin was evident, and authors agreed that agents of “tropical tick typhus” or scrub typhus might be responsible for both the Far Eastern and Siberian disease.
