ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER IN CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO

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Abstract
Linnemann, C. C., Jr. (University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219), P. Jansen and G. M. Schiff. Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Clermont County, Ohio: Description of an endemic focus. Am J Epidemiol 97: 125–130, 1973.—The number of reported cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) in the United States has been increasing since 1960, although the reasons for this increase are unknown. An epidemiologic study of an endemic area in southwestern Ohio was undertaken to describe the characteristics of an endemic focus, to determine if the actual incidence of disease was increasing, and, if so, to define the conditions under which the increase was occurring. An extremely localized “island” of RMSF, about 6.5 kilometers wide and 14.5 kilometers long, was found within a larger endemic area where sporadic cases were occurring. Ecologically, this area represented an ideal tick habitat, composed of fields and deciduous forests with thick ground cover and poor water drainage. An increasing incidence of RMSF was reflected in the cases reported to the Health Department, but the cases found by a review of medical records showed a much more dramatic increase in the incidence of disease, from 2.7 per 100,000 in 1941–1945 to 55.0 per 100,000 in 1966–1970. This increase is occurring at an early stage of suburbanization, when the population is increasing and the utilization of farmland is decreasing.

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