Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a communicable disease. It is part of the Rickettsias group. It is a pathogen that looks like bacteria. They multiply by taking over cells of a living thing. The Rickettsias enters a body through a bite of a insect (fleas, lice, ticks, ect.) or small animal (field mice, ect.). Most of the time an insect bites an infected animal and it transfers to the insect. Then the insect transfers the infection to a human by biting it. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is mostly caused by the Rocky Mountain dog tick in the eastern part of the US, the wood tick in the Rocky Mountain States, and the lone star tick on the west coast of the US.
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever was first discovered in 1896 in the Snake River Valley in Idaho. It was referred to as black measles. Then Howard Ricketts claimed the disease was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The disease can be found from Canada to South America. It is most common in Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Most cases happen late spring and early summer when ticks are just starting to come out.
The symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever develop a few days after the bite. The symptoms are headache, nausea, vomiting, chills, malaise, a rash that starts from your ankles and works its way up to the rest of your body, and rising temperatures. The temperatures can reach all the way up to 105 degrees! Sometimes if the case is worse than others it is accompanied with muscle aches in the legs, back, and stomach, and is very tender. It is said that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever’s symptoms resemble typhus, another Rickettsias disease. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever normally lasts for two to three weeks.
To prevent Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is just using common sense. When you go outside and wander in the woods, mountains, fields, tall grass, or anywhere else where there might be ticks, wear bright clothing so the ticks will be noticeable. Also cover your entire body, so the ticks...