Abstract
Objective The rise of zoonotic diseases has become a global health issue around the world. The present study is aimed at assessing the global status and the trends in scrub typhus (ST) research. Methods Publications related to ST studies from 1945 to 21st July 2020 were retrieved from the Scopus database. The search for the ST literature was conducted using the entry terms of the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) database. Full research articles and reviews were included in the analysis, and no limitation to the language was specified. Key bibliometric indicator analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel, Bibliometrix (an R package), GraphPad Prism 5, and VOSviewer (version 1.6.6). Results A total of 1567 publications were retrieved. The results revealed a significant increase in the number of ST publications over time. The documents received an average of 11.22 citations per document. Mahidol University in Thailand (258, 16.46%) was the most productive institution, while the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene published the most ST articles (88, 5.62%). Korea (195, 12.44%) was the most productive country, followed by India (178, 11.36%) and China (106, 6.76%). Richards AL was the most productive author with 36 articles. Conclusions The study findings provide useful insights into the global efforts and works related to the progress of ST research, which can be used to identify future research areas, such as vaccine development.
Highlights
IntroductionIt is endemic to numerous countries in the Asia-Pacific region [2]
Scrub typhus (ST) is a vector-borne disease carried by the chigger mite [1]
More than one billion people worldwide are at risk of scrub typhus (ST), and one million cases occur annually, especially in areas with limited access to health care services [7], which needs to be targeted via public health interventions [5]
Summary
It is endemic to numerous countries in the Asia-Pacific region [2] It is considered the most critical vector-borne infection associated with travelers [3, 4] and has a higher incidence rate among the farmers than the nonfarmers in rural areas [5]. The epidemiology of the disease traces back to World War II [8], and it is reemerging in many Southeast Asian countries [7]. It was endemic in a specified area mainly known as the “Tsutsugamushi Triangle” [2]. Many documents have focused on the genotypic diversity of O. tsutsugamushi in the world, promising potential resources for diagnosis as well as the development of vaccines [2, 12, 13]
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