%0 Journal Article
%A Domínguez, María Carmen
%A Vergara, Salvador
%A Gómez, María Carmen
%A Roldán, María Esther
%T Epidemiology of Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in Endemic Area, Spain.
%D 2020
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10668/15395
%X Tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is caused by spirochetes of Borrelia bacteria. We collected data on all TBRF cases in a TBRF-endemic area in southwest Spain during 1994-2016. We analyzed data from 98 patients in whom TBRF was diagnosed by light microscopy and analyzed the relationship between climatic data and TBRF incidence. Most cases occurred a rural environment during summer and autumn. We describe demographic, epidemiologic, clinical, and analytical characteristics, treatment, and occurrence of Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. Most patients had fever and headache, and laboratory test results included elevated C-reactive protein, thrombocytopenia, and neutrophilia. No patients died, but 10.1% had Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. B. hispanica was the infecting species in 12 cases with PCR results. Clinicians often do not suspect TBRF because clinical signs and symptoms vary; therefore, it is likely underdiagnosed, even in disease-endemic areas.
%K Borrelia hispanica
%K Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction
%K Spain
%K arthropodborne disease
%K bacteria
%K endemic borreliosis
%K tick-borne relapsing fever
%K vector-borne infections
%K zoonoses
%~