ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER RESEARCH AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INSECT VECTOR THEORY, 1900-1930

• Published in: Bulletin of the history of medicine Vol. 59; no. 4; pp. 449 - 466
• Main Author: Harden, Victoria A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore, MD The Johns Hopkins University Press 01.12.1985; Johns Hopkins University Press
• Subjects: Animal diseases; Animals; Arthropod Vectors; Arthropods; Biology; Disease transmission; Disease vectors; Diseases; Fever; History of medicine; History of science and technology; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Humans; Insect vectors; Ixodidae; Life sciences; Medicine; surgery; pharmacy; Parasitic diseases; Pathology; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - history; Ticks; United States; Zoology; United States; USA, Montana
• ISSN: 0007-5140; 1086-3176

At the beginning of the twentieth century, reports began to appear in the medical literature about a new and virulent disease that occurred in a remote mountain valley in western Montana. Sometimes misdiagnosed as cerebrospinal meningitis, this malady came to be known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Early research into the cause of spotted fever implicated the Rocky Mountain wood tick as the means by which the disease was transmitted. A number of investigation into the relationship between such arthropods and disease had been conducted on the nineteenth century by researchers in bacteriology, veterinary medicine, zoology, and public health. This paper will examine how research into Rocky Mountain spotted fever contributed to a fuller articulation of the arthropod vector concept.