• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Scrub Typhus in Previously Unrecognized Areas of Endemicity in China
  • Contributor: Zhang, Shouyin; Song, Hongbin; Liu, Yan; Li, Qun; Wang, Yong; Wu, Jiabin; Wan, Junfeng; Li, Guolan; Yu, Changjun; Li, Xiuyong; Yin, Wenwu; Xu, Zhen; Liu, Bo; Zhang, Qian; Wan, Kanglin; Li, Guichang; Fu, Xiuping; Zhang, Jingshan; He, Jinrong; Hai, Rong; Yu, Dongzheng; Walker, David H.; Xu, Jianguo; Yu, Xue-Jie
  • imprint: American Society for Microbiology, 2010
  • Published in: Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 48 (2010) 4, Seite 1241-1244
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1128/jcm.01784-09
  • ISSN: 0095-1137; 1098-660X
  • Keywords: Microbiology (medical)
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:p> Scrub typhus, caused by <jats:italic>Orientia tsutsugamushi</jats:italic> , has emerged recently in areas of northern China where the disease had not been known to exist. We analyzed epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory data for 104 patients who were admitted to a hospital in Fuyang City between 26 September and 1 November 2008. We showed that the major clinical manifestations of the patients were fever (100%), headache (82%), myalgias (77%), eschar (67%), rash (52%), and unusual facial flushing (62%). Among the 104 patients, the sera of 98% contained IgM antibodies to <jats:italic>O. tsutsugamushi</jats:italic> detected by indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFA), and DNA of the <jats:italic>O. tsutsugamushi</jats:italic> 56-kDa gene was amplified by PCR from the blood of 36 patients. We conclude that 104 patients were infected with scrub typhus in Fuyang City, Anhui Province. Our study indicates that physicians need to consider the diagnosis of scrub typhus for febrile patients living in northern China, where scrub typhus had not been considered to exist in the past. </jats:p>
  • Access State: Open Access