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Case Reports
. 2022 Apr 1;22(1):320.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07291-9.

Rickettsia conorii subsp. israelensis infection: a case report from southeast Iran

Mina Latifian  1   2 , Mohammad Khalili  3 , Mehrdad Farrokhnia  4 , Ehsan Mostafavi  1   2 , Saber Esmaeili  5   6
Affiliations
Case Reports

Rickettsia conorii subsp. israelensis infection: a case report from southeast Iran

Mina Latifian et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is a zoonotic and vector-borne disease caused by Rickettsia conorii. We report a case (36 year-old-woman) of MSF caused by Rickettsia conorii from Iran.

Case presentation: In September 2019, the patient was admitted to the hospital in Kerman province with flu-like symptoms and maculopapular lesions. According to the laboratory results, thrombocytopenia, elevated liver enzymes, and cardiac enzymes were observed. Skin biopsy was examined for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) and MSF using the Real-Time-PCR and ELISA method. Finally, the sample was positive for Rickettsia conorii subsp. israelensis and treated with doxycycline and completely recovered.

Conclusions: This study showed that MSF could be present in Iran. Therefore, identifying endemic areas in Iran for this disease should be on the agenda.

Keywords: Iran; Mediterranean spotted fever; Rickettsia conorii.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Phylogenetic analysis based on Rickettsia gltA gene sequencing and Maximum Likelihood method algorithm (Tamura-Nei model). The test was performed with bootstrap (500 repetitions) by MEGA X 10.1 software. Our clinical case (6RTA (GenBank Accession number ON037235)) is shown with an arrow
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic analysis based on Rickettsia ompA gene sequencing and Maximum Likelihood method algorithm (Tamura-Nei model). The test was performed with bootstrap (500 repetitions) by MEGA X 10.1 software. Our clinical case (6RTA (GenBank Accession number ON049421)) is shown with an arrow
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