Diagnosis of rickettsial retinitis remains presumptive when gold standard tests are not available or not done due to financial constrains. History of tick bite followed by fever with skin rash particularly in winter and spring season may point towards Rickettsiosis. The absence of scarring post resolution of rickettsial retinitis suggests inner retinal involvement in contrast to toxoplasmosis. Bilaterality of the disease, 2-4 weeks of latent period, and multifocal nature of retinitis lesions (cotton wool spot-like lesions) especially around the disc and posterior pole may suggest an immune response to recent systemic infection. The use of only antibiotics or only steroids or both together for treatment of rickettsial retinitis is controversial and warrants randomized controlled trials.
Keywords: Antibiotics; Optical coherence tomography; Rickettsial retinitis; Steroids; Weil-Felix test.