RT Journal
A1 Malison MD
T1 RElapsing fever
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1979
FD June 29
VO 241
IS 26
SP 2819
OP 2820
DO 10.1001/jama.1979.03290520043026
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1979.03290520043026
AB RELAPSING fever is an uncommonly diagnosed disease in this country (12 cases reported in 1977).1 The few cases reported each year mainly occur in the western United States, and only recently has a case been documented that originated east of the Mississippi.2Two forms of relapsing fever are recognized, louse-borne (epidemic) and tick-borne (endemic). Both are caused by spirochetes of the genus Borrelia and have similar symptoms. The louse-borne variety requires a human reservoir and is common in many other parts of the world. The only case of louse-borne relapsing fever reported in this century in the United States was in a recent Ethiopian immigrant,3 but tick-borne relapsing fever has many endemic foci in North America, largely because of the prevalence of animal reservoirs.The following two cases appeared in a two-month period at the same hospital. Both fortuitously were diagnosed by the laboratory technicians, who noticed