Rickettsialpox—A new rickettsial disease with oral manifestations

1. 1. Rickettsialpox is a new rickettsial disease transmitted to man by the rodent mite. 2. 2. The disease thus far is confined to New York City but may conceivably occur elsewhere in endemic form. 3. 3. Rickettsialpox is a benign disease characterized by chills, fever, sweating, backache, headache, general malaise, and a maculopapular vesicular exanthema and an oral enanthema. 4. 4. Diagnosis is established by the clinical course and the complement fixation test. 5. 5. Aureomycin and Chloromycetin may prove to be therapeutically effective.