COLORADO TICK FEVER

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Abstract
Colorado tick fever is a dengue like disease in its clinical symptoms, fever curve and hematological findings, differing primarily in its lack of rash and in its epidemiology. It is probably transmitted by the wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni. Serial human-to-human transfer did not increase or decrease its virulence and established the presence of the infectious agent in blood serum. Immunity lasts at least a year. Individuals immunized against Rocky Mt. spotted fever are susceptible to Colorado tick fever. Likewise, there is no cross immunity between dengue and Colorado tick fever. The golden hamster was successfully infected with the disease as proved by reduced white blood cell counts and causation of Colorado tick fever in humans following inoculation of infected hamster serum. There are alterations in the cellular type and arrangement of the follicular lymphoid tissue as well as a partial or complete disappearance of the well defined follicular margin in the hamster spleen as a result of infection. The use of calibrated gradacol membranes established the etiology of Colorado tick fever as a virus with a particle size of approx. 10 m[mu]. It is a stable virus, preserved by freezing and drying and does not spread to healthy hamsters by intimate association with diseased animals.

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