• An infection transmitted to humans when bitten by ticks (endemic Relapsing Fever) or body lice (epidemic Relapsing Fever).
  

• Symptoms appear suddenly, last for a week, subside, and then 2-4 days later less severe symptoms appear. These cycles recur 2-4 more times.
• High fever
• Headache
• Weakness
• Rigors or shaking chills
• Jaundice or yellowish tinge to the skin or whites of the eyes is due to liver involvement.
• Chest pain
• Nosebleeds
• Vomiting blood
• Blood in the Urine
• Muscle aches
• Joint aches
• Rash-pink-red, flat, or as tiny areas of bleeding under the skin
  

• Squirrels and other rodents carry the tick (Ornithdodrus) that contains spirochete (corkscrew shaped) bacteria from the Borrelia family.
• When we humans walk in the wooded areas, hungry ticks (sensing the carbon dioxide released from our breath) bite us and feed on our blood for 10-90 minutes (usually at night), during which they transmit the Borrelia bacteria.
• The bites-prevalent in warm weather or winter in heated cabins -- often go unnoticed.
  

- Wright staining or Giemsa technique -- applies a dye to a drop of blood collected from the infected patient -- will show a large number of spirochetes.

• Endemic form of the disease occurs in western U.S. and Canada
• Areas of poor sanitation -- famine, poverty, and war -- spread the epidemic form of the disease via body lice in crowded conditions.
• Epidemic form currently in China, Peru, and Western Africa.
• Males and younger adults who camp more than women and the aged.
  

• Treatment with tetracycline or erythromycin is the preferred antibiotic choice.
• Warning -- in some cases of tetracycline therapy, severe Shock and death can occur 2 hours after administering the medicine (known as the Jarisch-Herxheimer's reaction, it results from rapid destruction of the spirochetes).
  

• Contact your physician as soon as possible.  If you find a tick or lice attached to your skin, allow a health professional to remove it for you.
  

1. Bacteria -- Lyme's disease, Meningococcus infection
2. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever ( RMSF)
3. Rickettsial Pox
4. Virus -- Measles, Rubella