Rickettsia africae sp nov was published in 1996 as the agent of African tick-bite fever¹, a generally mild disease found in sub-Sahelian Africa and much of the Caribbean region^.2 It has been found in Amblyomma variegatum ticks in both western Africa and in the New World, also in A. hebraeum in eastern and central Africa. Infection is maintained by both transovarial and transstadial transmission within these ticks and serosurveys both in the West Indies and in Africa show high prevalence of tick infection and mammalian infection.

1.  Kelly PJ, Beati L, Mason PR, Matthewman LA, Roux V, Raoult D, 1996. Rickettsia africae sp nov, the etiological agent of African tick bite fever. Int J Syst Bacteriol 46: 611-614.
2. Parola P, Jourdan J, Raoult D, 1998. Tick-borne rickettsiosis caused by Rickettsia africae in the West Indies. N Eng J Med 338: 1391.