Rocky Mountain spotted fever is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Rickettsia and transmitted by the bite of an infected tick, mainly the star tick. This last week, the disease caused the death of four people who were on a farm in the city of Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo. “Spotted fever is an acute infectious disease, caused by the bite of a tick that will transmit the bacteria to the person”, explained infectologist Sandra Gomes de Barros, professor of Medicine at the University of Santo Amaro (Unisa), in an interview with TV Brazil. “It can manifest from a mild form to more severe forms, causing hemorrhages and compromising various organs of our system”, she pointed out. Tips The disease is not transmitted from person to person, but through tick bites. Therefore, to prevent it, the ideal is to avoid being in places where there is exposure to these animals or to adopt some measures when visiting any of these wild areas, forests, farms, ecological trails or high vegetation. The Ministry of Health indicates that, when visiting one of these higher risk regions, the person wears light clothes, which help to identify the tick, which is dark in color, more quickly. It is also important to wear pants and blouses with long sleeves and to wear boots. If possible, says the ministry, attach the bottom of the pants to the sock with adhesive tape. Another indication of the paste is that people use repellents, especially those with DEET, IR3535 and Icaridine as active ingredients. Another important measure is to avoid ticks on pets. When visiting risk areas, the ministry advises people to check for the presence of ticks on their clothes or skin every two or three hours, removing them immediately to reduce the risk of transmission of the disease. According to the ministry, it is important to pay attention even to the micuins, the young form of the tick and which are more difficult to visualize, but can also transmit the disease. If you find ticks adhered to the body, it is important that the removal is done with tweezers, not with your fingers. It is also important not to touch heated objects or needles to remove the bug. “Don’t squeeze or crush the tick, but pull gently and firmly. After removing the entire tick, wash the bite area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water. The faster the ticks are removed from the body, the lower the risk of contracting the disease will be”, informs the ministry. After use, all clothing items must be placed in boiling water to remove ticks. Spotted fever Brazil recorded 2,059 cases of spotted fever from January 2013 to June 14, 2023, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Of this total, 1,292 cases were in the Southeast Region. Since the beginning of this year, 53 cases have occurred across the country, of which 30 were concentrated in the Southeast. Arte/Agência Brasil The Southeast Region is one of the places with the highest number of cases in the country, mainly in the regions of Campinas, Piracicaba, Assis and Sorocaba. “It is a far cry from several other endemic diseases. But it gives a lot in the Southeast Region. People need to be careful when entering a region of woods, grass, tall grass, farms, ecological trails. There are regions where the disease is known to be frequent, such as Campinas, where spotted fever is very common, as there are many capybaras. These ticks like warm-blooded animals,” said infectologist and epidemiologist Gerusa Figueiredo, in an interview with TV Brasil. The period of greatest transmission of the disease is between the months of June and November. “For the individual to get sick, it is necessary to have contact with this tick for a longer period, from 4 to 10 hours, so that transmission of this bacteria can occur through the tick bite”, explains Sandra Gomes de Barros Symptoms The symptoms of the disease are often related to fever, pain throughout the body, headache and reddish spots, a condition very similar to the symptoms of dengue and leptospirosis. Therefore, it is important that, when arriving at a health unit, the professional is informed that the person was in a region at risk for the disease or with an incidence of ticks. “It is a disease that has nonspecific symptoms such as fever, malaise, headache, nausea, vomiting and muscle pain, which can be confused with other diseases. what will make the difference is for the individual to inform that he was in a wild area, where the tick was present”, explains Sandra Gomes de Barros. The search for the medical service must occur quickly, as soon as the first symptoms of the disease appear, which usually appear between 2 and 14 days after being bitten by the infected tick. “When you have these symptoms, seek medical attention as soon as possible”, warned Elen Fagundes, a biologist and coordinator of the Zoonosis Surveillance Unit in Campinas, in an interview with TV Brasil. According to her, if the treatment is started quickly, “it is very possible that the evolution of the disease has a favorable course, with cure”. * With information from TV Brasil
Agência Brasil
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