We conducted enhanced acute febrile illness surveillance in an urban slum community in Salvador, Brazil. We found that rickettsial infection accounted for 3.5% of urgent care visits for acute fever. Our results suggest that rickettsiae might be an underrecognized, treatable cause of acute febrile illness in impoverished urban populations in Brazil.
Keywords: Brazil; Rickettsia; acute febrile illness; bacteria; parasites; spotted fever group rickettsiae; typhus group rickettsiae; urban slums; vector-borne infections; zoonoses.