After three people die in Mexico from a disease outbreak, the CDC issues a big warning.
It is known that three people in Baja California have died from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF).
There have been five cases in the United States in the last five months, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a public warning on Friday.
All five patients—three from the US and two from Mexico—were taken to the hospital. Four of those cases were under 18 years old.
The CDC says that people travelling to the US from Tecate, in the state of Baja California, Mexico, have been caught with Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
“RMSF is a severe, rapidly progressive, and often deadly disease transmitted by the bite of infected ticks, although many patients do not recall being bitten by a tick,” the CDC notice stated.
The CDC says that ticks are the main way that RMSF, a bacterial infection, gets from ticks to people who live in places where dogs live.
Rickettsia rickettsii is a pathogen that is common in northern Mexico, even in places where Americans like to go on vacation.
When a tick is transferred from a dog to a person, an infection can happen. However, the CDC stresses that RMSF cannot be transferred from a person to another person.
In the early days of an infection, symptoms may seem mild at first, but they can quickly get worse if they are not handled quickly.
The warning says the first signs are a “low to moderate fever,” headache, stomach problems, abdominal pain, muscle pain, a rash, and swelling around the eyes and on the backs of the hands.
It can get worse over time, causing “altered mental status, coma, cerebral edoema, respiratory compromise, necrosis, and multiorgan system damage.”
The drug Doxycycline can treat the disease, which is good news. It should be given as soon as possible after infection.
The agency wants everyone who has been to Tecate or another city in northern Mexico to see a doctor if they or a family member starts to feel sick while they were there or within two weeks of getting back to the US.
