engleski

Rickettsial diseases in Croatia as a potential problem in travel and tourist medicine

Rickettsiae and rickettsial diseases continue to be a significant public health problem in Croatia, but also a problem of travel and tourist medicine. This report provides information regarding the data on current knowledge about rickettsiae and rickettsioses in Croatia. Nowadays, Croatia appears to be free of epidemic typhus (ET) caused by Rickettsia prowazekii, but still there are individual relapse cases (Brill-Zinsser disease). Likewise, the sporadic cases of murine typhus occurred in or originated exclusively from the Croatian littoral and islands between Zadar and Split. Human cases of Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) caused by R. conorii have been observed along the Croatian coast, mainly in the area from Zadar to Dubrovnik. R. akari was isolated from blood of a patient diagnosed with MSF in Zadar. According to the studies of ticks, which are known vectors of spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR), different tick species are infected with different rickettsiae species. The occurence of these rickettsial diseases in Croatia, the identification of MSF as an endemic rickettsiosis in our region, the emergence of new and unknown rickettsiae pathogenicity, serious types of clinical diseases and potential problems in travel and tourist medicine warn us clearly that our physicians must be very familiar with this rickettsial disease and include it into the differential diagnosis of acute febrile diseases accompanied by rash.

ickettsial diseases ; travel and tourist medicine

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