Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or RMSF was first recognized by an Army physician in 1896. For a while, no one knew what caused the fever. Researchers eventually began to notice when tick season was and the amount of cases of RMSF. They concluded that wood ticks spread RMSF. Howard Ricketts identified the route of transmission of the disease. The vector of RMSF is called R. rickettsii. It was named after Howard Ricketts. Symptoms of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever include a high fever, chills, severe headache, muscle aches, nausea and vomiting, restlessness and insomnia. …show more content…
The common states it is found in are North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. Most cases happen in the spring and summer. Only about 1 in 1,000 wood and dog ticks carry the bacteria. The infected ticks can also spread bacteria if someone crushes the ticks with their fingers and/or pull them out of an animal’s fur. Scientists who study the ticks notice that the ticks’ eggs notice that, according to Howard Ricketts, that there is ‘minute polar staining bacilli’ in freshly laid eggs of infected ticks.” In 1906, Howard Ricketts performed experiments on guinea pigs. After he transmitted the disease, he demonstrated that the bacteria could be removed via filtration. He was one of the first people to notice that ticks are spreading Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Mountain Fever is spread by infected ticks. Contrary to its name, cases of the disease are almost always found east of the Rocky Mountains. Anyone can get it but there is an antibiotic for it and it’s available to