Novel spotted fever group Rickettsiosis, Brazil

Rickettsia rickettsii is the etiologic agent of Rocky RMountain spotted fever (RMSF). During the past 2 decades, a clear reemergence of RMSF has been seen in southeastern Brazil, where =350 laboratory-confirmed cases (case-fatality rate =30%) have been reported (1). Most of these cases were confirmed solely by serologic-based techniques; specific identification of the Rickettsia species was not achieved. However, because these cases were clinically and epidemiologically compatible with RMSF, the agent was presumed to be R. rickettsii (1). The occurrence of R. parken in Brazil has been restricted to ticks; human clinical infection has been reported in the United States, and possibly in Uruguay (1). Additionally, a few clinical cases caused by R. felis or R. typhi have been reported in southeastern Brazil during the 21st century (2,3). We report a clinical case of SFG rickettsiosis in a patient from southeastern Brazil. Molecular analysis of clinical samples showed that the patient was infected by a novel SFG strainFAPESPCNP