eMedicine Specialties > Emergency Medicine > Infectious Diseases
Tick-Borne Diseases, Colorado: Follow-up
Updated: Dec 9, 2008
Follow-up
Further Outpatient Care
- Patients diagnosed with Colorado tick fever should continue antipyretic therapy.
- Instruct the patient to follow up with a primary care physician.
Deterrence/Prevention
- Refer to the Deterrence/Prevention section in Tick-borne Diseases, Introduction.
Complications
- Complications of Colorado tick fever are unusual. Cases with neurologic disease, including meningitis and meningoencephalitis, are reported, especially in children.
Prognosis
- The prognosis is excellent, even in cases complicated by neurologic symptoms.
- Rare fatalities are reported.
Patient Education
- Instruct patients not to donate blood for 6 months following infection.
- For excellent patient education resources, visit eMedicine's Bites and Stings Center. Also, see eMedicine's patient education article Ticks.
Miscellaneous
Medicolegal Pitfalls
- Failure to exclude the treatable tick-borne diseases (eg, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, relapsing fever) and other serious bacterial infections
Special Concerns
- This virus can be transmitted by blood transfusion, so ask about recent transfusions in patients with febrile illnesses (not just for Colorado tick fever) and also make sure that the patient does not donate blood for 6 months.
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References
Emmons RW. Ecology of Colorado tick fever. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1988;42:49-64. [Medline].
Goodpasture HC, Poland JD, Francy DB, et al. Colorado tick fever: clinical, epidemiologic, and laboratory aspects of 228 cases in Colorado in 1973-1974. Ann Intern Med. Mar 1978;88(3):303-10. [Medline].
Klasco R. Colorado tick fever. Med Clin North Am. Mar 2002;86(2):435-40, ix. [Medline].
Leiby DA, Gill JE. Transfusion-transmitted tick-borne infections: a cornucopia of threats. Transfus Med Rev. Oct 2004;18(4):293-306. [Medline].
Romero JR, Simonsen KA. Powassan encephalitis and colorado tick fever. Infect Dis Clin North Am. Sep 2008;22(3):545-59, x. [Medline].
Spruance SL, Bailey A. Colorado Tick Fever. A review of 115 laboratory confirmed cases. Arch Intern Med. Feb 1973;131(2):288-93. [Medline].
Further Reading
Keywords
tick-borne diseases, Colorado tick fever, tick bite, Dermacentor andersoni, D andersoni, Orbivirus, vector-borne disease, wood tick, Coltivirus, RNA virus, tick-borne viral diseases, tick-borne virus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick bite, viral infection
Follow-up: Tick-Borne Diseases, Colorado