Imported rickettsial African spotted fever in Japan.

A 45-year-old Japanese man developed a black eschar skin lesion and on the body, a number of erythematous seropapules 2 weeks after his return from South Africa. Within 24 h of treatment with minocycline he was afebrile and symptomatically much improved. Serological tests showed increased antibody titres to spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR). From the clinical and serological findings we consider this patient to be the first in Japan to have been infected with SFGR in Africa.