Open AccessA Case of African Tick-Bite Fever in a Returning Traveler from Southern Africa
Author(s) -
Woonji Lee,
Hye Seong,
Jung Ho Kim,
Hosoon Choi,
Jin Young Ahn,
Su Jin Jeong,
Nam Su Ku,
Jun Yong Choi,
Choon Mee Kim,
Dong-Min Kim,
JoonSup Yeom
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
infection and chemotherapy/gam'yeom gwa hwahag yo'beob/infection and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2092-6448
pISSN - 1598-8112
DOI - 10.3947/ic.2019.0073
Subject(s) - eschar , medicine , doxycycline , malaria , tick , travel medicine , rickettsiosis , scrub typhus , spotted fever , virology , veterinary medicine , pediatrics , dermatology , immunology , rickettsia , surgery , biology , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotics , virus
African tick-bite fever (ATBF), caused by Rickettsia africae , is the second most frequent cause of fever after malaria in travelers returning from Southern Africa. As the Korean outbound travelers are increasing every year, tick-borne rickettsial diseases as a cause of febrile illness are likely to increase. We describe a febrile Korean returning traveler who showed two eschars after visiting the rural field in Manzini, Swaziland. We performed nested polymerase chain reaction using the eschar and diagnosed the patient with ATBF. He was treated with oral doxycycline for 7 days, and recovered without any complications. We believe that the present case is the first ATBF case diagnosed in a Korean traveler.