As an 8-year-old I was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). I'm now 33, and I'm wondering if RSMF can cause similar late complications as Lyme disease does. I suffer from joint pain, muscle pain, trouble sleeping, memory loss, and lack of concentration. This has been going off and on since I was 15.

Question

As an 8-year-old I was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). I'm now 33, and I'm wondering if RSMF can cause similar late complications as Lyme disease does. I suffer from joint pain, muscle pain, trouble sleeping, memory loss, and lack of concentration. This has been going off and on since I was 15.

Answer

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RSMF) is the most prevalent rickettsial disease in the United States and is a growing infectious disease problem. First recognized in parts of Idaho and Montana it has since been reported throughout the United States. Nearly two thirds of RMSF patients are under 15 years of age, and, though antibiotics are highly effective, about 5%-7% of patients die.

The wood tick in the west, the dog tick in the east, and the Lone Star tick in the southwest USA are all natural carriers of the disease. Fever, headache, rash, toxicity, mental confusion, and myalgia constitute the major clinical features of RMSF. Onset of disease usually occurs 2- 8 days after an infected tick bite. Fever rises rapidly and may be high. The rash appears by the second or third day in most patients - small red spots which occasionally bleed - first on the wrists and palm, ankles and soles, spreading to the trunk. Neurologic symptoms include seizures, blindness, deafness, and some paralysis.

Importantly, there are no long-term complications of RMSF, even if you were not treated, but survived a virulent infection. Lyme Disease, although transmitted by a tick, has a different organism that causes the disease. If untreated, Lyme Disease can progress to more serious stages, where the joints, the heart and the central nervous system can be involved. But, as RMSF has no long-term complications like this, you may need to look for other causes of your symptoms.