RMSF is a disease that comes from a bacteria called Rickettsia rickettsii. This bacteria must feed off of another organism in order to survive, and uses the tick as its carrying mechanism to find a prey, frequently a human being or another animal. When a tick carrying this bacteria bites a human, the rickettsia bacteria then acts as a parasite on the human, and begins attacking the smooth muscle lining our blood vessels. Once a human has been bitten by a tick carrying this parasite, symptoms of this disease will begin to appear within five to seven days from the bite.
The most common symptoms of this illness are flu-like symptoms, and the person will feel generally sick within about a week. Muscle aches and pains are normally, and are most common in the leg and back muscles. Fever and headaches will be present, as may be vomiting and/or nausea. The rash that creates the spotted fever look will be present within the first week, though not everyone infected will experience the rash. The rash will begin as a pink rash that is flat, and will progress to more raised rashing and this rash will look like tiny blood blisters. Eventually the rash will fade into bruising until healed completely. If treatment with antibiotics such as Doxycycline is not received soon enough, this rash can progress to an internal stage, where the overall health of the individual is severely compromised.
Due to the severity with some of the symptoms, particularly the fever and malaise, treatment must begin as soon as illness by tick is suspected. RMSF is not a fatal disease if treated quickly, but it can be fatal if left untreated, and death can occur as quickly within eight to fifteen days of being bitten by the tick. Fatality by RMSF is generally due to respiratory failure caused by increased internal rash.
The good news is that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is completely treatable once illness has been detected and diagnosis is confirmed. Doxycycline, a broad spectrum antibiotic is the most common treatment for RMSF. If doxycycline is taken at the earliest signs of symptoms, seven days of treatment will be enough for the bacteria to respond accordingly and for the individual to resume normal health. About Author
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