Cat flea rickettsiosis (flea-borne spotted fever or cat-flea typhus) is a rickettsial infection caused by Rickettsia felis, which is transmitted by the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis. Other fleas, ticks, and mites can also act as vectors for R. felis. Cat flea rickettsiosis has a global distribution. In the continental United States, it is most common in Texas and California. Cats, dogs, rats, and opossums are the major animal reservoirs for C. felis.

The majority of human infections by R. felis are subclinical. If symptomatic, fever and headache are typically followed by a pruritic eruption on the chest, abdomen, and lower extremities after 3-5 days. Additional symptoms, such as myalgia, arthralgia, abdominal pain, cough, and chest pain, may accompany. An eschar can develop at the site of the flea bite.

Cat flea rickettsiosis is considered an emerging and underreported infectious disease. Diagnosis is challenging as its clinical presentation resembles that of other rickettsial diseases and there is cross-reactivity in serological tests. Cat flea rickettsiosis appears to be a milder disease compared with other rickettsial diseases. However, reports of systemic complications, with photophobia, hearing loss, meningismus, alveolar hemorrhage and hepatosplenomegaly, have occurred.