OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:20 AM – Saturday, December 9, 2023
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued a warning for Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
The CDC released a health alert on Friday for an outbreak of the tick-borne disease that has caused five illnesses, including three deaths, in the United States since July.
The five cases, all of which occurred in Southern California, concerned individuals who had visited Tecate, Baja California, within the preceding two weeks.
According to the agency’s health alert, three of the four were U.S. citizens and under the age of eighteen. Three of the five died while they were in the hospital.
The CDC is alerting medical professionals to the possibility of treating patients with symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever who have recently visited northern Mexico with the antibiotic doxycycline immediately, instead of waiting for test results to confirm the illness.
The disease cannot be transmitted from person to person but by brown dog ticks.
“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,” the CDC says.
In the initial days of the infection, symptoms such as a low fever, headache, stomach issues, abdominal pain, rash, and swelling around the eyes and back of the hands may be mild.
Reportedly, a person may experience mental changes, a coma, brain swelling, breathing issues, and multiorgan damage on or after approximately five days.
The CDC advises that anyone who has visited northern Mexico and experiences symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever within two weeks of returning to the U.S. should seek immediate medical attention.
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