To determine the cause of acute febrile illnesses other than malaria in the North Eastern Province, Kenya, we in-vestigated rickettsial infection among patients from Garissa Provincial Hospital for 23 months during 2006–2008. Nucle-ic acid preparations of serum from 6 (3.7%) of 163 patients were positive for rickettsial DNA as determined by a genus-specifi c quantitative real-time PCR and were subsequently confi rmed by molecular sequencing to be positive for Rick-ettsia felis. The 6 febrile patients' symptoms included head-ache; nausea; and muscle, back, and joint pain. None of the patients had a skin rash
展开▼
