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KSWB — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with San Diego County public health officials, are cautioning travelers to northern Mexico and Baja California of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
San Diego health officials reported back in November that a San Diego resident had recently died from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, cautioning the public about the tickborne illness and travel to Baja California.
In early December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) followed suit, issuing a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to healthcare providers and the public of the outbreak of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in travelers to northern Mexico and Tecate, Mexico, including Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo León, among other areas in northern Mexico.
The CDC reported in December, five people had been diagnosed with RMSF since July 2023; everyone diagnosed had been in Tecate within two weeks of the onset of their illness. All five of those diagnosed with RMSF had gone to southern California hospitals; three of those people died.
The CDC is warning healthcare providers to look for RMSF in people who have recently traveled to Tecate, Mexico. In areas like Baja California, ticks are a year-round risk because dogs can carry infected ticks.
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Humans and dogs can contract the disease from a tick bite. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is treated with antibiotics most efficiently when a person is diagnosed within the first few days.
After five to six days is when the disease is likely to advance into more severe symptoms.
The CDC emphasized RMSF is rapidly progressive, and half of all people who die from the disease succumb within eight days of contracting it.
Early symptoms include fever, headaches, and stomach upset, so health officials warn anyone with insect bites or who recently traveled to report it to a doctor.
Prevention
The County’s Vector Control Program monitors ticks, rodents and mosquitoes that can transmit diseases to humans.
There are around 850 different types of ticks throughout the world. Ticks can carry many different diseases, including Lyme disease, Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF), 364D rickettsiosis, Tularemia, and many others, according to the CDC.
The CDC has several tips for preventing tick bites online.
Anyone bitten by a tick should remove it with tweezers. Let a doctor know you were bitten, how long it was attached, and in what part of the world you were bitten. Save the tick for identification because only certain ticks carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
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