[Boutonneuse fever in tourists as a model for clinical diagnosis of rickettsioses (author's transl)].

Case histories of boutonneuse fever are described in order to exemplify major characteristics of most rickettsioses: recent travel history, feverish illness with severe headache, skin eruptions and histological findings. Up-to-date informations concerning the epidemiologic situation of typhus, scrub typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are given. The characteristics of Q fever and the possibility of rickettsial laboratory infections are pointed out.