[Far-eastern spotted fever: description of new infectious disease]

Historical data concerning description and identification of etiology of tick-borne spotted fever in Russia are presented in the paper. Review of studies shows that by uncovering the etiology of tick-borne spotted fever in the Russian Far East, an emerging disease may be discovered. Another, different from classical Rickettsia sibirica, bacteria causes spotted fever there. The application of described methods resulted in first isolation of etiological agent of far-eastern spotted fever, Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, strains from patients.