Rickettsia honei Infection in a Traveler Returning From India

Amy M Denison; Brooke Leitgeb; Joseph M Obadiah; Anne Schwindt; Stephen G Ladd-Wilson; Christopher D Paddock; Eduard Matkovic

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaa636

Rickettsia honei Infection in a Traveler Returning From India

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020 Dec 22;8(2):ofaa636. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa636. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Authors

Amy M Denison¹, Brooke Leitgeb¹, Joseph M Obadiah², Anne Schwindt³, Stephen G Ladd-Wilson⁴, Christopher D Paddock⁵, Eduard Matkovic¹

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases Pathology Branch, Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
² Providence Health Systems, Portland, Oregon, USA.
³ Multnomah County Health Department, Portland, Oregon, USA.
⁴ Public Health Division, Oregon Health Authority, Portland, Oregon, USA.
⁵ Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Abstract

We report a case of Rickettsia honei infection in a US tourist returning from India and the Himalayas. This case highlights a need for awareness of various Rickettsia species endemic to India and the importance for physicians to consider rickettsial diseases in returning travelers with eschar or rash-associated febrile illnesses.

Keywords: Rickettsia honei; eschar; formalin-fixed; paraffin-embedded (FFPE) biopsy tissue; rash; spotted fever group Rickettsia.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America 2020.