Rocky Mountain spotted fever historical perspective

History
Rocky Mountain spotted fever was first recognized in 1896 in the Snake River Valley of Idaho and was originally called “black measles” because of the characteristic rash. It was a dreaded and frequently fatal disease that affected hundreds of people in this area. By the early 1900s, the recognized geographic distribution of this disease grew to encompass parts of the United States as far north as Washington and Montana and as far south as California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Howard T. Ricketts was the first to establish the identity of the infectious organism that causes this disease. He and others characterized the basic epidemiological features of the disease, including the role of tick vectors. Their studies found that Rocky Mountain spotted fever is caused by Rickettsia rickettsii. This species is maintained in nature by a complex cycle involving ticks and mammals; humans are considered to be accidental hosts and are not involved in the natural transmission cycle of this pathogen. Tragically—and ironically—Dr. Ricketts died of typhus (another rickettsial disease) in Mexico in 1910, shortly after completing his remarkable studies on Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Prior to 1922, Drs. McCray and McClintic both died doing research on the fever; so did an aide of Noguchi at the Rockefeller Institute. Drs. McCalla and Brerton also did early fever research.

Research began in 1922 in western Montana — in the Bitter Root Valley; Hamilton, Montana — after the governor's daughter and son-in-law died of the fever. Past Assistant Surgeon R.R. Spencer of the Hygienic Laboratory of the US Public Health Service was ordered to the region and led a research team at an abandoned local schoolhouse through at least 1924. Spencer's fateful day was May 19, 1924 when he ultimately put a large dose of mushed wood ticks — from lot 2351B — and weak carbolic acid into his arm by inoculation. The vaccine worked. Spencer was aided by R. R. Parker, Bill Gettinger, Henry Cowan, Henry Greenup, Elmer Greenup, Salsbury and Kerlee, et al. Gettinger, Cowan and Kerlee would all die from the fever during the research efforts.

Much of the early research was conducted at Rocky Mountain Laboratories (part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), which is the source of the name of the condition.