Rickettsia parkeri

Rickettsia parkeri
Four photos showing skin problems, one of them taken through a microscope.
Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis skin lesions: A - eschar after tick bite on neck; B, C - papulovesicular rash on back and leg; D - micrograph of biopsy specimen
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Pseudomonadota
Class: Alphaproteobacteria
Order: Rickettsiales
Family: Rickettsiaceae
Genus: Rickettsia
Species group: Spotted fever group
Species:
R. parkeri
Binomial name
Rickettsia parkeri
Lackman et al., 1965

Rickettsia parkeri (abbreviated R. parkeri) is a gram-negative intracellular bacterium. The organism is found in the Western Hemisphere and is transmitted via the bite of hard ticks of the genus Amblyomma. R. parkeri causes mild spotted fever disease in humans, whose most common signs and symptoms are fever, an eschar at the site of tick attachment, rash, headache, and muscle aches. Doxycycline is the most common drug used to reduce the symptoms associated with disease.