• Main Authors: Narendra Rathi, Akanksha Rathi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Rickettsial Infections; Indian Perspective; Indian; The Louse; antartic*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.604.6044; http://www.indianpediatrics.net/feb2010/157.pdf

Rickettsial diseases are some of the mostcovert re-emerging infections of thepresent times. They are generallyincapacitating and notoriously difficult to diagnose; untreated cases can have fatality rates as high as 30-35 % but when diagnosed properly, they are often easily treated(1). Rickettsial infection has been one of the great scourges of mankind, occuring in devastating epidemics during times of war and famine. Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow was forced by rickettsial disease breaking out among his troops. Lenin is said to have remarked, in reference to rickettsial disease rampant during Russian revolution, that “either socialism will defeat the louse or the louse will defeat the socialism”(2). Rickettsial infection in the past have taken more lives than all the wars combined together(3). Tickborne rickettsial diseases (TBRD) continue to cause severe illness and death in otherwise healthy adults and children, despite availability of low cost, effective antibiotic therapy. The greatest challenge to clinician is the difficult diagnostic dilemma posed by these infections early in their clinical course when antibiotic therapy is most effective(4). EPIDEMIOLOGY Except Antartica, rickettsial infections are prevalent throughout the world. For India, the reported numbers are an underestimate due to lack of community based data and non-availability of confirmatory laboratory tests(5). Rickettsial disease in India has been documented from Jammu and