Severe and Fatal Confirmed Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Among People with Recent Travel to Tecate, Mexico [December 8, 2023, 4:15 PM ET]

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.). Health Alert Network (HAN)
• Description:
  December 8, 2023, 4:15 PM ET
  
  CDCHAN-00502
  
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to notify healthcare providers and the public about an outbreak of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) among people in the United States with recent travel to or residence in the city of Tecate, state of Baja California, Mexico. RMSF is a severe, rapidly progressive, and often deadly disease transmitted by the bite of infected ticks, although many patients do not recall being bitten by a tick. Doxycycline is the treatment of choice for patients of all ages. As of December 8, 2023, five patients have been diagnosed with confirmed RMSF since late July 2023; all had travel to or residence in Tecate within 2 weeks of illness onset. RMSF is endemic in multiple border states in northern Mexico, including but not exclusive to Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo León. Healthcare providers should consider RMSF in their differential diagnosis of patients who have reported recent travel to Tecate, Mexico, or other areas of northern Mexico and subsequently develop signs or symptoms of an unexplained severe febrile illness. Consider initiating doxycycline based on presumptive clinical and epidemiologic findings, and do not delay treatment pending the result of a confirmatory laboratory test. Early treatment with doxycycline saves lives.
  
  
• Content Notes:
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  Categories of Health Alert Network (HAN) messages:
  
  Health Alert: Requires immediate action or attention, highest level of importance.
  
  Health Advisory: May not require immediate action; provides important information for a specific incident or situation.
  
  Health Update: Unlikely to require immediate action; provides updated information regarding an incident or situation.
  
  HAN Info Service: Does not require immediate action; provides general public health information.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Rickettsia Rickettsii Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
• Keywords:
  HAN Health Alert Network
• Source:
  HAN ; 502
• Series:
  Health Alert Network
• Subseries:
  CDC Health Advisory
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Alert
• Place as Subject:
  Mexico
• Rights:
  Public Domain
• Issue:
  00502
• Collection(s):
  Health Alert Network (HAN)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0b940c9fa3fa56d8b80cb5a95c4c1c4347f8a4da19efcae717fe74a94f1dde84fad3d81d51f650ca4f262a268ad66fad941337aad6238d389020d7d411ca4a98
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/154332/cdc_154332_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1001.38 KB ]