Rickettsialpox is an illness that is caused by bacteria of the Rickettsia genus. Physician Robert Huebner and self-trained entomologist Charles Pomerantz played major roles in identifying the etiology of the disease after an outbreak in 1946 in a New York City apartment complex, documented in medical writer Berton Roueché's short story, "The Alerting of Mr. Pomerantz."
Although it is not transmitted by a tick (a characteristic of spotted fever), the bacteria is a part of the spotted fever group of Rickettsia, and so this condition is often classified with that group.
