Rocky Mountain spotted fever is an infection you can get from certain kinds of ticks. Ticks are small spiderlike animals that attach to your skin and feed on blood. This infection can lead to life-threatening problems, such as shock and kidney failure, if it is not treated quickly. It can be treated with antibiotics.
The first symptoms usually start about 2 to 14 days after the tick bite. They include a sudden fever, severe headache, muscle and joint aches, and nausea and vomiting. A rash that looks like many tiny, flat, purple or red spots may come later. The rash usually starts on the wrists and ankles, then spreads to the arms and legs and the rest of the body.
Be sure to remove a tick from your body as soon as you find one. This helps you avoid an infection or any diseases the tick may pass on.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a bacterial infection passed to humans by wood ticks and dog ticks that can lead to life-threatening complications, such as shock and kidney failure, if it is not treated promptly. Initial symptoms usually start about 2 to 14 days after the tick bite and may include a sudden fever, severe headache, muscle and joint aches, distinct rash, and nausea and vomiting.
The rash is usually made up of many tiny, flat, purple or red spots (petechial rash). It usually starts on the wrists and ankles, then spreads to the arms and legs and the rest of the body.
It is also called tick fever, spotted fever, or tick typhus. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is found in the southeastern, western, and south-central United States.
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