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Rickettsia
(rĭ-ket´se-ә)
a genus of bacteria made up of small, gram-negative, rod-shaped to coccoid microorganisms that multiply only inside host cells.
They are found inside tissue cells or free-floating in the intestines of lice, fleas, ticks, and mites, which transmit them
when they bite larger animals. R. cono´rii is the etiologic agent of boutonneuse fever and is transmitted by the bite of ixodid ticks. R. prowaze´kii is the agent of scrub typhus and recrudescent typhus and is transmitted between animals by fleas and lice. R. ty´phi is the cause of murine typhus and is transmitted to humans primarily by rat fleas.

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