ABSTRACT
The group of tick-borne rickettsial diseases known collectively as tick typhus have a world-wide geographical distribution, but the individual members of the group occur in certain geographical regions from which their names are derived. The prototypes of these infections are boutonneuse fever, occurring in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and South African tick-bite fever — the variety of tick typhus occurring in southern Africa. Typhus nodes or foci of inflammatory cells, mostly mononuclear cells, were seen in all the viscera in relation to the blood vessels. Most patients who develop tick typhus give a history of visiting a rural area or the bushveld where ticks abound. Tick typhus is essentially a disease of the blood vascular system and most complications result from the vasculitis. The signs and symptoms of tick typhus are so characteristic that there is usually little difficulty in diagnosing the condition on clinical findings.
