The treatment for spotted fever is done with antibiotics, since the disease is caused by a bacterium. The antibiotics used are chloramphenicol and the doxycycline, which can be administered orally or intravenously. The treatment time is 7 to 10 days.
In addition to antibiotic therapy, spotted fever may supportive treatment, with analgesic, antipyretic, blood volume replacement, respiratory support and specific medication to act on blood vessels, such as noradrenaline.
Patients who manage to swallow receive antibiotics for oral. In the most severe cases, with vomiting and bloating, the medicines are administered by via intravenous.
The response to antibiotics is good and spotted fever is completely healed. However, to be effective, treatment needs to be started as soon as possible, early in the illness.
From the 7th day, the lesions that bacteria cause on the wall of blood vessels can be irreversible, making death inevitable.
Although not a very common disease, spotted fever high mortality rate due to lack of early diagnosis and treatment.
It is therefore very important that spotted fever is diagnosed and treated as soon as possible, which is not always the case, since its symptoms are often confused with other diseases, such as dengue fever.
How to prevent spotted fever?
The best way to prevent spotted fever is to avoid areas infested by ticks and be aware of the presence of ticks in animals such as dogs and horses.
If someone has a tick attached to the skin, you should not crush the animal to avoid possible contagion through skin lesions. It's needed remove the parasite carefully and slowly.
Recalling that for transmission of spotted fever, the tick needs to be "stuck" on the skin for about 4 hours.
The infectious doctor is responsible for the treatment of spotted fever.
