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Rickettsial Diseases

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Intraocular Inflammation

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Abstract

Rickettsioses are worldwide-distributed diseases caused by obligate intracellular small gram-negative bacteria, usually transmitted to humans by the bite of arthropods, such as ticks. They are clinically characterized by the triad of high fever, headache and general malaise, and skin rash. Diagnosis of rickettsial infection relies on a high index of suspicion, and is based on clinical features and epidemiologic data and is confirmed by positive serologic testing and/or PCR. Ocular involvement is common and is frequently asymptomatic, including retinitis, retinal vascular changes, and optic disc involvement. Doxycycline is the drug of choice for the treatment of rickettsial diseases, but other antibiotics may be used. Additional topical antibiotics and corticosteroids may be required to treat ocular disease. Although prognosis of systemic infection is good in most cases, rickettsioses may be severe and potentially lethal.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, University of Monastir, Monastir, 5019, Tunisia

    Moncef Khairallah MD & Rim Kahloun MD

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Taher Sfar University Hospital, Mahdia, Tunisia

    Riadh Messaoud MD

Authors
  1. Moncef Khairallah MD
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  2. Rim Kahloun MD
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  3. Riadh Messaoud MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Moncef Khairallah MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Ophthalmology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

    Manfred Zierhut

  2. Biomedical Research Centre, Institute of Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eyes Hospital, Department of Medical Retina, UCL, London, United Kingdom

    Carlos Pavesio

  3. School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Hokkaido University Graduate, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Shigeaki Ohno

  4. University of Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Fernando Orefice

  5. USC Eye Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Narsing A. Rao

1 Electronic Supplementary Material

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Case Report 26

Rickettsiosis (PPT 2514 kb)

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Khairallah, M., Kahloun, R., Messaoud, R. (2016). Rickettsial Diseases. In: Zierhut, M., Pavesio, C., Ohno, S., Orefice, F., Rao, N. (eds) Intraocular Inflammation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75387-2_104

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75387-2_104

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-75385-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-75387-2

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