{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]],"date-time":"2026-09-16T20:23:58Z","timestamp":1789590238632,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":17,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"4","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,4,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Rickettsial infections are an underrecognized cause of febrile illness in sub-Saharan Africa. To evaluate the epidemiology and clinical features of rickettsial disease in pediatric patients in Ghana, we screened blood samples from febrile children aged less than 15 years presenting to an outpatient department in Ghana's Ashanti Region for the presence of rickettsial DNA. We detected <jats:italic>Rickettsia felis<\/jats:italic> in 7\/470 (1.5%) blood samples, using two independent real-time polymerase chain reactions. No other <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> species were found. <jats:italic>R. felis<\/jats:italic> was detected repeatedly in one patient, and coinfection with <jats:italic>Plasmodium falciparum<\/jats:italic> was found in 3\/7 samples. Symptoms apart from fever included cough (6\/7) and vomiting (4\/7). None of the <jats:italic>R. felis<\/jats:italic>-positive patients reported a rash. This study is the first report on <jats:italic>R. felis<\/jats:italic> in Ghana and adds to the growing evidence for its widespread occurrence with and without malaria coinfection in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.16-0754","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,24]],"date-time":"2017-01-24T01:50:28Z","timestamp":1485222628000},"page":"783-785","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Rickettsia felis Infection in Febrile Children, Ghana"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"96","author":[{"given":"Peter","family":"Sothmann","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Tropical Medicine, 1st Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany."},{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christian","family":"Keller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Virology, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, Marburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ralf","family":"Krumkamp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-L\u00fcbeck, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benno","family":"Kreuels","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Tropical Medicine, 1st Department of Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany."},{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-L\u00fcbeck, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cassandra","family":"Aldrich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nimako","family":"Sarpong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Stefanie","family":"Steierberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Doris","family":"Winter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kennedy Gyau","family":"Boahen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ellis","family":"Owusu-Dabo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"J\u00fcrgen","family":"May","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."},{"name":"German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hamburg-Borstel-L\u00fcbeck, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Eibach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"ref1","series-title":"Lancet Infect Dis","first-page":"417","article-title":"Community-acquired bloodstream infections in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"10","author":"Reddy","year":"2010"},{"issue":"6","key":"ref2","series-title":"PLoS One","first-page":"e0127962","article-title":"Etiology of severe febrile illness in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review","volume":"10","author":"Prasad","year":"2015"},{"key":"ref3","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"328","article-title":"Rickettsia felis infection in febrile patients, western Kenya, 2007\u20132010","volume":"18","author":"Maina","year":"2012"},{"key":"ref4","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1775","article-title":"Common epidemiology of Rickettsia felis infection and malaria, Africa","volume":"19","author":"Mediannikov","year":"2013"},{"key":"ref5","series-title":"Trends Parasitol","first-page":"554","article-title":"Rickettsia felis: the complex journey of an emergent human pathogen","volume":"32","author":"Angelakis","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref6","series-title":"J Infect","first-page":"536","article-title":"Description of \u201cyaaf\u201d, the vesicular fever caused by acute Rickettsia felis infection in Senegal","volume":"66","author":"Mediannikov","year":"2013"},{"key":"ref7","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e2324","article-title":"Etiology of severe non-malaria febrile illness in northern Tanzania: a prospective cohort study","volume":"7","author":"Crump","year":"2013"},{"key":"ref8","series-title":"At a glance: Ghana\u2014Statistics","author":"UNICEF","year":"2013"},{"key":"ref9","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e821","article-title":"Tick-borne rickettsioses, neglected emerging diseases in rural Senegal","volume":"4","author":"Mediannikov","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref10","series-title":"Mol Cell Probes","first-page":"17","article-title":"Development of quantitative real-time PCR assays to detect Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia felis, the causative agents of murine typhus and flea-borne spotted fever","volume":"21","author":"Henry","year":"2007"},{"key":"ref11","series-title":"J Clin Microbiol","first-page":"949","article-title":"Identification of a novel rickettsial infection in a patient diagnosed with murine typhus","volume":"32","author":"Schriefer","year":"1994"},{"key":"ref12","series-title":"Curr Trop Med Rep","first-page":"27","article-title":"Rickettsia felis, an Emerging Flea-Borne Rickettsiosis","volume":"3","author":"Brown","year":"2016"},{"key":"ref13","series-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci USA","first-page":"8088","article-title":"Transmission potential of Rickettsia felis infection by Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes","volume":"112","author":"Dieme","year":"2015"},{"key":"ref14","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1768","article-title":"Rickettsia felis and changing paradigms about pathogenic rickettsiae","volume":"20","author":"Labruna","year":"2014"},{"key":"ref15","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1140","article-title":"Rickettsia felis-associated uneruptive fever, Senegal","volume":"16","author":"Socolovschi","year":"2010"},{"key":"ref16","series-title":"Emerg Infect Dis","first-page":"1808","article-title":"Possible role of Rickettsia felis in acute febrile illness among children in Gabon","volume":"21","author":"Mourembou","year":"2015"},{"key":"ref17","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"1015","article-title":"Molecular identification of pathogenic bacteria in eschars from acute febrile patients, Senegal","volume":"91","author":"Mediannikov","year":"2014"}],"container-title":["The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/96\/4\/article-p783.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/tpmd\/96\/4\/article-p783.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/tpmd\/96\/4\/article-p783.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,7]],"date-time":"2024-08-07T22:37:06Z","timestamp":1723070226000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ajtmh.org\/view\/journals\/tpmd\/96\/4\/article-p783.xml"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,4,5]]},"references-count":17,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4269\/ajtmh.16-0754","relation":{},"ISSN":["0002-9637","1476-1645"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0002-9637","type":"print"},{"value":"1476-1645","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,4,5]]}}}