1. Systemic inflammatory responses in African tick-bite fever.
- Author
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Jensenius M, Ueland T, Fournier PE, Brosstad F, Stylianou E, Vene S, Myrvang B, Raoult D, and Aukrust P
- Subjects
- Adult, Africa, Animals, Arachnid Vectors, Bites and Stings blood, Communicable Diseases, Emerging blood, Communicable Diseases, Emerging immunology, Cytokines blood, E-Selectin blood, Female, Humans, Inflammation blood, Male, Middle Aged, Rickettsia physiology, Rickettsia Infections blood, Tick-Borne Diseases blood, Travel, von Willebrand Factor analysis, Bites and Stings immunology, Inflammation immunology, Inflammation microbiology, Rickettsia Infections immunology, Tick-Borne Diseases immunology, Ticks microbiology
- Abstract
Information regarding the inflammatory response in African tick-bite fever (ATBF), an emerging spotted-fever-group rickettsiosis, in international travelers to sub-Saharan Africa, is scarce. Plasma/serum levels of von Willebrand factor (vWF), soluble (s) E-selectin, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, interferon-gamma, IL-10, IL-13, IL-8, RANTES, macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha, and C-reactive protein were studied, at both first presentation and follow-up, in 15 patients with travel-associated ATBF and in 14 healthy travelers who served as control subjects. Our main and novel findings are the following: (1) patients with ATBF had increased levels of vWF and sE-selectin, with a subsequent decrease at follow-up; (2) with the exception of IFN-gamma, levels of cytokines and chemokines were also increased in these patients at the first presentation; and (3) IL-10 and IL-13 tended to increase during follow-up, whereas most of the inflammatory cytokines decreased. The induction of these mediators and the balance between them may be critical both for the regulation of inflammation and for protective immunity in ATBF.
- Published
- 2003
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