Rickettsia conorii is a Gram-negative, obligate intracellularbacterium of the genus Rickettsia that causes human disease called boutonneuse fever, Mediterranean spotted fever, Israeli tick typhus, Astrakhan spotted fever, Kenya tick typhus, Indian tick typhus, or other names that designate the locality of occurrence while having distinct clinical features.[3][4] It is a member of the spotted fever group and the most geographically dispersed species in the group, recognized in most of the regions bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, Israel, Kenya, and other parts of North, Central, and South Africa, and India.[3] The prevailing vector is the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. The bacterium was isolated by Emile Brumpt in 1932[5] and named after A. Conor, who in collaboration with A. Bruch, provided the first description of boutonneuse fever in Tunisia in 1910.[6]
The genome of the bacterium has been sequenced and four subspecies have been identified.[7][8][9][10][11]
Genomes of intracellular or parasitic bacteria undergo massive reduction compared to their free-living relatives. Examples include Rickettsia for alpha proteobacteria, T. whipplei for Actinobacteria, Mycoplasma for Firmicutes (the low G+C content Gram-positive), and Wigglesworthia and Buchnera for gamma proteobacteria.[12]
^Skerman, VBD; McGowan, V; Sneath, PHA, eds. (1989). Approved Lists of Bacterial Names (amended ed.). Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology.
^ abYu, XJ; Walker, DH (2005). "Genus I. Rickettsia da Rocha-Lima 1916, 567AL". In Brenner, DJ; Krieg, NR; Staley, JT; et al. (eds.). Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Volume 2, Part C (2nd ed.). New York: Springer. doi:10.1007/0-387-29298-5_28 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
^Brumpt, E (1932). "Longevité du virus de la fièvre boutonneuse (Rickettsia conorii, n. sp.) chez la tique Rhipicephalus sanguineus". C. R. Soc. Biol. 110: 1119–1202.
^Conor, A & A Bruch (1910). "Une fièvre éruptive observée en Tunisie". Bull Soc Pathol Exot Filial. 8: 492–496.
La Manna, Torina A, Agnone A (November 2013). "Detection of Natural Killer T Cells in Mice Infected with Rickettsia conorii". 60: 80–85. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
