True <span>Rickettsia species are carried as parasites by many ticks, fleas, and lice, and cause diseases such as typhus, rickettsialpox, Boutonneuse fever, African Tick Bite Fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Australian Tick Typhus, Flinders Island Spotted Fever and Queensland Tick Typhus in human beings.</span>
Arthropods like mice, fleas, lice and ticks are ectoparasites that derive nutrients from their specific hosts. They are also vectors/carriers of the ricketssia bacteria and they transmit this bacteria into their host when they bite them.
Ricketssia disease or infection are induced by a group of bacteria called Ricketssiae, which are similar to viral cells being that they can only survive in living host cells. Ricketssia bacteria can either be the spotted face group or the typhus group depending on the symptoms or kind of infection. Each species of Ricketssia bacteria is host-specific e.g Ricketssia prowazekii is the common cause of typhus in humans.
