| Literature DB >> 28115672 |
Peter Sothmann1,2, Christian Keller3, Ralf Krumkamp2,4, Benno Kreuels1,2,4, Cassandra Aldrich2, Nimako Sarpong5, Stefanie Steierberg2, Doris Winter2, Kennedy Gyau Boahen5, Ellis Owusu-Dabo5, Jürgen May2,4, Daniel Eibach2.
Abstract
AbstractRickettsial infections are an underrecognized cause of febrile illness in sub-Saharan Africa. To evaluate the epidemiology and clinical features of rickettsial disease in pediatric patients in Ghana, we screened blood samples from febrile children aged less than 15 years presenting to an outpatient department in Ghana's Ashanti Region for the presence of rickettsial DNA. We detected Rickettsia felis in 7/470 (1.5%) blood samples, using two independent real-time polymerase chain reactions. No other Rickettsia species were found. R. felis was detected repeatedly in one patient, and coinfection with Plasmodium falciparum was found in 3/7 samples. Symptoms apart from fever included cough (6/7) and vomiting (4/7). None of the R. felis-positive patients reported a rash. This study is the first report on R. felis in Ghana and adds to the growing evidence for its widespread occurrence with and without malaria coinfection in sub-Saharan Africa.Entities:
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Year: 2017 PMID： 28115672 PMCID： PMC5392620 DOI： 10.4269/ajtmh.16-0754
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Am J Trop Med Hyg ISSN： 0002-9637 Impact factor: 2.345