Abstract
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has established regional centers at 16 locations to monitor vectors and pathogens. We investigated the geographical and temporal distribution of chigger mite populations to understand tsutsugamushi disease epidemiology in 2020. To monitor weekly chigger mite populations, 3637 chigger mites were collected from sticky chigger mite traps in autumn. Chigger mites appeared from the first week of October to the third week of December, peaking in the fourth week of October. The predominant species were Leptotrombidium scutellare, Leptotrombidium palpale, Neotrombicula kwangneungensis, Neotrombicula tamiyai, and Leptotrombidium pallidum. To monitor Orientia tsutsugamushi infection in chigger mites, 50,153 chigger mites were collected from 499 trapped wild rodents in spring and autumn, with a chigger index of 100.5. Approximately 50% of chigger mites were pooled into 998 pools, and the minimum infection rate (MIR) of O. tsutsugamushi was 0.1%. Jeongeup had the highest MIR for O. tsutsugamushi (0.7%). The Kato-related genotype was the most common (52.2%), followed by the Karp-related (17.4%), Boryong (13.0%), JG-related (8.7%), Shimokoshi (4.3%), and Kawasaki (4.3%) genotypes. Ecological and geographical studies focusing on the basic ecology and pathology of mites will improve our understanding of tsutsugamushi disease risks in the Republic of Korea.
Highlights
IntroductionKnown as tsutsugamushi disease, is caused by one of the world’s oldest known vector-borne pathogens, Orientia tsutsugamushi
Accepted: 21 July 2021Scrub typhus, known as tsutsugamushi disease, is caused by one of the world’s oldest known vector-borne pathogens, Orientia tsutsugamushi
Some researchers have doubted that chigger mites of non-vector species would harbor
Summary
Known as tsutsugamushi disease, is caused by one of the world’s oldest known vector-borne pathogens, Orientia tsutsugamushi. This species is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that requires host cells and is transmitted to humans by bites from the larvae of chigger mites [1]. This disease is a severe public health problem in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India [2]. The essential feature of this disease is that it is arthropod-mediated, maintaining the infection in nature through the association among warm-blooded animals, such as humans and small wild mammals, such as mites, with the pathogen O. tsutsugamushi [4]
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