blue disease


Rock·y Moun·tain spot·ted fe·ver

an acute infectious disease of high mortality, characterized by frontal and occipital headache, intense lumbar pain, malaise, a moderately high continuous fever, and a rash on wrists, palms, ankles, and soles from the second to the fifth day, later spreading to all parts of the body; it occurs in the spring of the year primarily in the southeastern U.S. and the Rocky Mountain region, although it is also endemic elsewhere in the U.S., in parts of Canada, in Mexico, and in South America; the pathogenic organism is Rickettsia rickettsii, transmitted by two or more tick species of the genus Dermacentor; in the U.S. it is spread by D. andersoni in the western states and D. variabilis (a dog tick) in the eastern states. Synonym(s): black fever, black measles (2) , blue disease, blue fever, Mexican spotted fever, São Paulo fever, Tobia fever

blue disease

A nonspecific term for:
(1) Cyanotic heart disease;
(2) Rocky Mountain spotted fever.