Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children
10:57

Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children

Published on: August 22, 2012

Mediterranean spotted fever in children returning from France

T L Treadwell1, S D Phillips, W J Jablonski

  • 1Department of Medicine, Framingham Union Hospital, MA 01701.

American Journal of Diseases of Children (1960)
|September 1, 1990
PubMed

Insights

Mediterranean spotted fever, a tick-borne illness, is rarely diagnosed in travelers. This report highlights two pediatric cases in southern France, emphasizing travel medicine

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Travel Medicine

Background:

  • Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) incidence is rising globally.
  • MSF is infrequently diagnosed in international travelers.
  • Tick-borne diseases pose risks to global travelers.

Observation:

  • Two children presented with rash and lymphadenopathy after traveling in southern France.
  • Neither child reported a tick bite.
  • Clinical presentation mimicked other febrile exanthems.

Findings:

  • Both children were diagnosed with MSF via serologic testing.
  • Treatment with doxycycline was effective.
  • Confirmed MSF in pediatric travelers highlights diagnostic challenges.

Implications:

  • International travel can introduce pediatric patients to rare diseases.
  • Clinicians should consider MSF in febrile exanthems in travelers.
  • Raising awareness of MSF in pediatric travel medicine is crucial.

More Related Videos

Development of an IFN-γ ELISpot Assay to Assess Varicella-Zoster Virus-specific Cell-mediated Immunity Following Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation08:04

Development of an IFN-γ ELISpot Assay to Assess Varicella-Zoster Virus-specific Cell-mediated Immunity Following Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation

Published on: July 9, 2014

Detecting the Lyme Disease Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, in Ticks Using Nested PCR07:20

Detecting the Lyme Disease Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, in Ticks Using Nested PCR

Published on: February 4, 2018

Related Concept Videos

Fungal Phylum Microsporidia01:28

Fungal Phylum Microsporidia

Microsporidia are a group of obligate intracellular fungi that were initially classified as protists but were later reclassified based on phylogenetic, molecular, and structural evidence linking them to the Chytridiomycota. These unicellular, non-motile organisms are highly specialized parasites that infect a wide range of animal hosts, including humans. They have evolved extensive genomic and metabolic reductions, making them highly dependent on their hosts for survival.Morphology and Genomic...
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever01:26

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) is a severe tick-borne illness caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, a Gram-negative, coccobacillary bacterium. This pathogen is an obligate intracellular parasite, requiring a host cell for replication. Transmission occurs through the bite of an infected tick. In the United States, the most important vectors are Dermacentor variabilis (American dog tick) and Dermacentor andersoni (Rocky Mountain wood tick), though other tick species may also serve as vectors.
Yellow Fever01:18

Yellow Fever

Yellow fever is a viral hemorrhagic disease caused by the yellow fever virus (YFV), a member of the Flaviviridae family. It is transmitted primarily by Aedes and Haemagogus mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and South America. After transmission through a mosquito bite, the virus initially replicates in skin-resident immune cells such as dendritic cells and macrophages. These cells then migrate to the lymph nodes, where viral replication increases, eventually leading to...
Malaria01:29

Malaria

Malaria pathogenesis in humans reflects a delicate interplay between parasite biology and host response. Clinical illness reflects a host’s immune response to the parasite’s asexual replication cycle, which is often asymptomatic in individuals with partial immunity. From the parasite's perspective, transmission between mosquito and human with minimal host pathology is evolutionarily advantageous. Among the six Plasmodium species infecting humans, P. falciparum and P. vivax dominate in global...
Toxoplasmosis01:28

Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, poses significant public health challenges globally due to its high seroprevalence and varied clinical manifestations. As an obligate intracellular parasite, T. gondii can infect all warm-blooded vertebrates, but felids are its only definitive hosts, shedding unsporulated oocysts into the environment. Humans typically acquire the infection through ingestion of tissue cysts in undercooked meat or oocysts from...
American Trypanosomiasis01:22

American Trypanosomiasis

Chagas disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is a vector-borne parasitic infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a flagellated protozoan (kinetoplastid) of the family Trypanosomatidae. The disease is endemic in Latin America, although cases are increasingly reported worldwide due to human migration. Transmission most commonly occurs when feces of infected triatomine bugs contaminate bite wounds or mucosal surfaces; additional routes include congenital, transfusional, transplant-related, and oral...