Tick-borne Diseases: Tick-borne Spotted Fever Rickettsioses in Africa

In the field of tick-borne rickettsioses, discussion is ongoing about new vectors and the geographic zones of the diseases. New Rickettsia spp. that cannot yet be linked to human disease are sometimes detected in arthropods. In Africa, in addition to R. conorii and R. africae, seven distinct species of tick-borne rickettsiae are considered to be human pathogens. A combination of clinical alertness and molecular tools such as PCR base detection of DNA and sequencing help to describe new diseases.