Human Infection with Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae

In this letter, the ancestral rickettsial organism Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae was shown to cause human infection.To the Editor: From May through August 2012, a total of 251 patients who had recent tick bites sought treatment at Mudanjiang Forestry Central Hospital in northeastern China and were tested for tickborne infections. Polymerase-chain-reaction testing followed by sequencing of eschar and blood samples showed that 5 patients were infected with Candidatus Rickettsia tarasevichiae, a new species of rickettsiae of the spotted fever group. Phylogenetic analysis based on either the citrate synthase gene or the outer-membrane protein A gene showed that the agent was genetically close to R. canadensis (see Fig. 1 in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text ...