Indiana’s top doctor urges vigilance for spotted fever cases

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(AP)  Indiana’s state health commissioner is urging physicians to check patients for signs of Rocky Mountain spotted fever following a young girl’s recent death from the tick-borne disease.

Commissioner Jerome Adams also suggested in Monday’s advisory that doctors ask about patients about outdoor exposure and said they should not rule out tick-borne diseases even if patients, especially children, have no evidence or recollection of a tick bite.

A 2-year-old central Indiana girl died June 4 from the disease.

The Indianapolis Star reports some tick diseases are becoming more common in Indiana.

State officials have recorded more than 100 cases of Lyme disease each of the last three years. But a Riley Children’s Health pediatric infectious disease specialist says 15 years ago that tick-borne disease was rarely seen in Indiana.