title: Rickettsioses in sub-Saharan Africa.
abstract: Although rickettsioses are among the oldest known vector-borne zoonoses, several species or subspecies of rickettsias have been identified in recent years as emerging pathogens throughout the world including in sub-Saharan Africa. To date, six tick-borne spotted fever group pathogenic rickettsias are known to occur in sub-Saharan Africa, including Rickettsia conorii conorii, the agent of Mediterranean spotted fever; R. conorii caspia, the agent of Astrakhan fever; R. africae, the agent of African tick-bite fever; R. aeschlimannii; R. sibirica mongolitimonae; and R. massiliae. On the other hand, fleas have long been known as vectors of the ubiquitous murine typhus, a typhus group rickettsiosis induced by R. typhi. However, a new spotted fever rickettsia, R. felis, has also been found to be associated with fleas, to be a human pathogen, and to be present in sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, R. prowazekii the agent of louse-borne epidemic typhus continues to strikes tens to hundreds of thousands of persons who live in Sub-Saharan with civil war, famine and poor conditions. We present an overview of these rickettsioses occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the epidemiological aspects of emerging diseases.
authors.affiliation: Unité des Rickettsies, CNRS UMR 6020 IFR 48, WHO Collaborative Center for Rickettsial Reference and Research, Faculté de Médecine, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 5, France. philippe.parola@medecine.univ-mrs.fr
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parola
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D012287:Rickettsiaceae / Q000145:classification*; D012288:Rickettsiaceae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology