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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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RMSF was first reported in the U.S. in 1896 in people living in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho and was eventually named after that region. Some investigators suggest the name is misleading because the disease currently is found in most of the U.S. states, with North Carolina and Oklahoma accounting for a total of about 35% of all U.S. cases. States containing the Rocky Mountains (for example, Idaho, Utah) have infection rates of about 0%-3% of cases. Additionally, almost every area in the world (except Antarctica) has reported the disease syndrome similar to RMSF and has isolated Rickettsia spp very similar to R. rickettsii. In the U.S., the fatality rate is about 2%; before effective treatments were available, reported fatality rates varied from 30%-70%.

The age groups at highest risk for infection with RMSF are children under 10 years of age, although any age group can be infected. RMSF has been a reportable disease since the 1920s, and about 250-1,200 cases are reported each year. From about 1972 to about 1990, the average number of cases per year was high (about 1,000) and then decreased until 2001, when the case numbers again climbed and have remained at about 1,000 per year. Recent data suggest the numbers of cases are increasing.

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