In fact, after infecting their prey, they live inside the cells lining small blood vessels, causing the vessels to become inflamed or blocked and to bleed. The best known example of a rickettsiael disease is Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever transmitted by dog ticks, which, if untreated, produces a fever, headache, rash, and a systemic illness that can range from mild to deadly. Lone Star ticks have been associated with ehrlichiosis, a disease that can produce the same symptoms as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but without a telltale rash. As alarming as these diseases can be, only about 5 percent of ticks shepherd such microorganisms, and infections can be cured if a patient is given a course of antibiotics early. Then there are spirochetal infections, such as Lyme disease.
Spirochetes are corkscrew-shaped bacteria that move by undulating.
Once introduced into the skin, the bacteria can migrate outward and spread in the lymph or through the blood to other organs. Untreated, the infection can involve the joints, the nervous system and result in chronic disease. Kirkland suspected the campers were being infected by a spirochete bacterium, because the rash resembled that of Lyme disease. She led a team of researchers who set up shop at the camp. Logs were made of all the ticks collected, and whom they were removed from and when, and they took blood and skin samples.