Rickettsial Infections

Rickettsioses are emerging infectious diseases. Because of better diagnostic tools and changes in tick exposure, many new rickettsial diseases have been described in the past 20 years. Human rickettsioses caused by intracellular bacteria of the genus Rickettsia are distributed worldwide and are transmitted by arthropod vectors such as ticks, fleas, mites and lice. They have a wide range of manifestations from benign to life-threatening diseases. Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) caused by Rickettsia conorii subsp. conorii, belongs to the spotted fever group rickettsioses. Confirmed cases of MSF were also reported in the Trakya region of Turkey. Providing rapid detection and identification of rickettsia in clinical samples, advanced molecular techniques improved our knowledge about MSF cases in Turkey. Prevalent and effective use of these contemporary techniques may lead to the discovery of new rickettsial diseases in our country. [Dis Mol Med 2013; 1(2.000): 39-45