Rickettsial and ehrlichial infections

Rickettsial diseases represent a clinically homogeneous group of infections characterized by fever, headache myalgias, variable presence of a rash, and a broad spectrum of neurological manifestations. Epidemiological information including time of year, geography, history of arthropod exposure, and animal contact gives important clues to the diagnosis, and should be actively elicited. Abnormalities in hematological indices of liver function tests should also increase suspicion for illness. Delay in initiation of doxycycline therapy while awaiting laboratory confirmation of infection has been associated with progressive neurological impairment and death. Clinicians should maintain a low threshold to initiate empiric therapy for rickettsial diseases in any patient with neurological findings and compatible exposures, signs, or laboratories, as these syndromes represent readily treatable causes of neurological dysfunction.