Glossary of Medical and Health Terms

Relapsing Fever

Relapsing fever is an infection caused by certain bacteria in the genus Borrelia. It is a vector-borne disease that is transmitted through louse or soft-bodied tick bites.

Louse-borne Relapsing Fever

Borrelia recurrentis is the only agent of louse-borne disease. Pediculus humanus, is the specific vector. Louse-borne relapsing fever is more severe than the tick-borne variety.

Louse-borne relapsing fever occurs in epidemics amid poor living conditions, famine and war in the developing world.

Mortality rate is 1% with treatment; 30-70% without treatment. Poor prognostic signs include severe jaundice, severe change in mental status, severe bleeding, and prolonged QT interval on ECG.

Lice that feed on infected humans acquire the Borrelia organisms that then multiply in the gut of the louse. When an infected louse feeds on an uninfected human, the organism gains access when the victim crushes the louse or scratches the area where the louse is feeding. B. recurrentis infects the person via mucous membranes and then invades the bloodstream. No animal reservoir exists.

Tick-borne Relapsing Fever

Other relapsing infections are acquired from other Borrelia species, such as Borrelia hermsii or Borrelia parkeri, which can be spread from rodents, and serve as a reservoir for the infection, via a tick vector. Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia recurrentis cause very similar diseases although the disease associated with Borrelia hermsii has more relapses and is responsible for more fatalities, while the disease caused by B. recurrentis has longer febrile and afebrile intervals and a longer incubation period.

Tick-borne relapsing fever is found primarily in Africa, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Asia, and certain areas in the Western U.S. and Canada.

Associated ICD-10 code: A68.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relapsing_fever

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