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Front Med (Lausanne) 2022 27;9:831045. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, United States.

Scrub typhus is a potentially severe rickettsiosis, caused by in the Asia-Pacific region. Recently, however, two distinct pathogens, " Orientia chuto" and " Orientia chiloensis", have been discovered in the Middle East and South America, respectively. Since the novel pathogens differ significantly from , many established diagnostic methods are unreliable. Read More

Front Public Health 2022 27;10:883945. Epub 2022 Apr 27.

School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.

Background: To explore the efficacy and safety of drugs in patients with scrub typhus.

Methods: For this systematic review and network meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang data (WF) up to December 2021. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of antibiotics used to treat scrub typhus were included without language or date restrictions. Read More

Neurol India 2022 Mar-Apr;70(2):760-763

Department of Radiodiagnosis, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India.

Scrub typhus is an acute febrile illness caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. The diagnosis of scrub typhus relies on the patient's history of exposure, clinical manifestations, and results of serological tests. Our patient had a history of altered sensorium, inability to walk, and macular rashes predominantly distributed over the chest and bilateral upper limbs. Read More

Indian J Med Microbiol 2022 May 5. Epub 2022 May 5.

Division of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India.

The antigenic heterogeneity of Orientia in India is still unknown in many disease endemic areas. The present study aims to characterize the strains of O. tsutsugamushi circulating in Nagaland, Northeast India. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2022 May 4;16(5):e0010281. Epub 2022 May 4.

Department of Medicine, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.

Background: Dengue fever is highly endemic in Vietnam, but scrub typhus-although recognized as an endemic disease-remains underappreciated. These diseases together are likely to account for more than half of the acute undifferentiated fever burden in Vietnam. Scrub typhus (ST) is a bacterial disease requiring antimicrobial treatment, while dengue fever (DF) is of viral etiology and does not. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2022 Apr 29;16(4):e0010369. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

Center for Diagnostics and Vaccine Development, Centers for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan, Republic of China.

Scrub typhus is the most common endemic vector-borne disease in Taiwan. We identified a total of 4,857 laboratory-confirmed cases during 2006-2016 with hyperendemic foci on offshore islands, including Penghu (778 cases, 16.0%) and Kinmen (716 cases, 14. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2022 Apr 29;16(4):e0010357. Epub 2022 Apr 29.

State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China.

Background: Scrub typhus (ST) is a life-threatening infectious disease if appropriate treatment is unavailable. Large discrepancy of clinical severity of ST patients was reported among age groups, and the underlying risk factors for severe disease are unclear.

Methods: Clinical and epidemiological data of ST patients were collected in 55 surveillance hospitals located in Guangzhou City, China, from 2012 to 2018. Read More

Front Immunol 2022 11;13:867924. Epub 2022 Apr 11.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.

Infection with , an obligate intracellular bacterium, can cause mild or severe scrub typhus. Some patients develop acute lung injury, multi-organ failure, and fatal infection; however, little is known regarding key immune mediators that mediate infection control or disease pathogenesis. Using murine models of scrub typhus, we demonstrated in this study the requirement of TNF-TNFR signaling in protective immunity against this infection. Read More

Med J Armed Forces India 2022 Apr 27;78(2):140-146. Epub 2020 Jul 27.

Resident (Internal Medicine), 7 Air Force Hospital, Kanpur Cantt, UP, India.

Background: Dengue is a common arthropod-borne viral disease with a variable clinical spectrum, course, and outcome.

Method: We conducted a prospective observational study describing the clinical profile of patients hospitalized for dengue with warning signs during the 2019 epidemic.

Result: A total of 1349 patients with dengue, including 459 with warning signs, were seen. Read More

J Assoc Physicians India 2022 Apr;70(4):11-12

RNT Medical College, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Scrub typhus is also known as tsutsugamushi disease or bush typhus. It is a mite-borne acute febrile illness caused by Gram-negative intracellular organism called Orientia tsutsugamushi, which belongs to the family of Rickettsiaceae. The aims and objectives are to study the epidemiological patterns, different clinical manifestations and complications associated with scrub typhus. Read More

J Assoc Physicians India 2022 Apr;70(4):11-12

King George's Medical University, Lucknow.

Encephalitis is challenging to manage given the diversity of clinical and epidemiologic features. Various predictors of outcome have been studied so far including thrombocytopenia, cerebral edema, hypoglycaemia, development of status epilepticus and need for endotracheal intubation. Thrombocytopenia represents one of the potentially modifiable risk factors for poor prognosis in encephalitis. Read More

Infect Immun 2022 Apr 18:e0062821. Epub 2022 Apr 18.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, School of Medicine, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

Orientia tsutsugamushi is a genetically intractable obligate intracellular bacterium, causes scrub typhus, and has one of the largest known armamentariums of ankyrin repeat-containing effectors (Anks). Most have a C-terminal F-box presumed to interact with the SCF ubiquitin ligase complex primarily based on their ability to bind overexpressed Skp1. Whether all F-box-containing Anks bind endogenous SCF components and the F-box residues essential for such interactions has gone unexplored. Read More

Lancet Glob Health 2022 05;10(5):e685-e693

CDC India, New Delhi, India.

Background: Annual outbreaks of acute encephalitis syndrome pose a major health burden in India. Although Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) accounts for around 15% of reported cases, the aetiology of most cases remains unknown. We aimed to establish an enhanced surveillance network and to use a standardised diagnostic algorithm to conduct a systematic evaluation of acute encephalitis syndrome in India. Read More

Infect Dis Poverty 2022 Apr 9;11(1):41. Epub 2022 Apr 9.

State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, 20 Dong-Da Street, Fengtai District, Beijing, 100071, People's Republic of China.

Background: Emerging mite-borne pathogens and associated disease burdens in recent decades are raising serious public health concerns, yet their distributions and ecology remain under-investigated. We aim to describe the geographical distributions of blood-sucking mites and mite-borne agents and to assess their ecological niches in China.

Methods: We mapped 549 species of blood-sucking mites belonging to 100 genera at the county level and eight mite-associated agents detected from 36 species of blood-sucking mites in China during 1978-2020. Read More

Chemosphere 2022 Apr 5;300:134428. Epub 2022 Apr 5.

Amity Center of Nanotechnology, Amity University, Haryana, 122413, India; Department of Biotechnology, Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana, Ambala, 134003, India. Electronic address:

The graphene quantum dots (GQDs) was synthesized using potato starch and water by hydrothermal method and further used for reduction of tetracholoroauric acid to form graphene quantum dots-gold ([email protected]) nanocomposite. The GQDs/[email protected] were analyzed using FTIR, UV-Vis, Flourometry and HR-TEM. The synthesized [email protected] were further used for fabrication of cost-effective screen-printed paper electrode (SPPE) based DNA sensor for the detection of O. Read More

Oman J Ophthalmol 2022 Jan-Apr;15(1):99-101. Epub 2022 Mar 2.

Department of Ophthalmology, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.

A 15-year-old female patient presented with complaints of headache, blurring of vision, and redness of both eyes for 15 days and fever for 20 days. Her best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 20/40 in both eyes. Anterior segment examination was normal except for subconjunctival haemorrhage in both eyes. Read More

Ann Med Surg (Lond) 2022 Mar 8;75:103490. Epub 2022 Mar 8.

Aaruchanaute Primary Health Care Center, Aarughat, Gorkha, Nepal.

Introduction: Scrub typhus is endemic in most parts of Southeast Asia including Nepal. Fever, rash, headache, myalgia, eschar are the common clinical features. Though endemic, scrub typhus is grossly underdiagnosed in our country due to the lack of diagnostic tools and non-specific presentation of the disease. Read More

Mymensingh Med J 2022 Apr;31(2):350-354

Dr Sultana Shabnam Nila, Assistant Professor (Microbiology), Mymensingh Medical College (MMC), Mymensingh, Bangladesh; E-mail:

Rickettsial diseases are one of the leading causes of treatable acute febrile illness in Asia pacific region. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at Department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College to diagnose scrub typhus by rapid Immunochromatographic Test (ICT) and Nested PCR followed by molecular identification of possible Rickettsial coinfection among suspected febrile patients in Mymensingh, Bangladesh from March 2019 to February 2020. Among the enrolled 402 patients, 89 samples (22. Read More

J Vector Borne Dis 2021 Oct-Dec;58(4):359-367

ICMR-Regional Medical Research Center, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-751023, Odisha, India.

Background & Objectives: Acute kidney injury associated with scrub typhus is an emerging health problem in the tropics including India. This study intended to find out the incidence, clinical outcome, cytokine response and genotypes of Orientia tsutsugamushi associated with AKI patients in Odisha, a state in eastern India.

Methods: Acute febrile illness or history of acute fever with various degrees of kidney involvement admitted to SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack were included in the study. Read More

J Vector Borne Dis 2021 Oct-Dec;58(4):323-328

Department of Medicine, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.

Background & Objectives: Scrub typhus is a zoonotic rickettsial disease that is transmitted by the bite of the larval stage (chiggers) of trombiculid mites. The aim of this study was to determine the existence of scrub typhus in central and eastern Uttar Pradesh, India in patients with acute febrile illness (AFI) presenting to a super specialty tertiary level institute.

Methods: This prospective hospital-based study was conducted for a period of one year, from August 2018 to July 2019. Read More

Am J Trop Med Hyg 2022 Apr 4. Epub 2022 Apr 4.

Scrub typhus group (STG), typhus group (TG), and spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae are pathogens distributed worldwide and are important causes of febrile illnesses in southeast Asia. The levels of rickettsioses burden and distribution in Thai communities are still unclear. Nonspecific symptoms, limit diagnostic capacity and underdiagnoses contribute to the absence of clarity. Read More

Ann Indian Acad Neurol 2021 Nov-Dec;24(6):849-864. Epub 2021 Dec 17.

Department of Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Scrub typhus is one of the most frequent causes of acute febrile illness in South and South-east Asian countries. Neurological features accompany 20% of scrub typhus infections, and may affect the central or peripheral nervous system, and sometime, may even occur in combination. Of late, its recognition among clinicians has increased with widening detection of its cutaneous hallmark, called eschar. Read More

Trop Doct 2022 Mar 29:494755221081595. Epub 2022 Mar 29.

Department of Paediatrics, 78199Midnapore Medical College, West Bengal, India.

In this prospective study, children from 1-month to 12-years, admitted with positive IgM ELISA testing for scrub typhus, were enrolled over 1-year and administered an empirical single dose of azithromycin (10 mg/kg). All 189 (median age 4.84-years) children had fever with median duration of 8 days at admission. Read More

Arch Microbiol 2022 Mar 25;204(4):221. Epub 2022 Mar 25.

Department of Pediatrics, IMS and SUM Hospital, Siksha "O" Anusandhan Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751003, India.

Scrub typhus is a bacterial zoonotic acute febrile illness (AFI) caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi, which is an antigenically diverse strain frequently observed in the tropical region of Southeast Asian countries. The recent investigation was conducted to delineate the genotype identification of Orientia tsutsugamushi predominating in the eastern zone of India such as Odisha to decipher its strain type, and evaluate its diversity as well as evolutionary pattern based on the nucleotide analysis of the immune dominant 56 KDa gene. During this study, we have investigated 100 clinical samples (2014-2018), out of which 28 were positive for scrub typhus followed by its molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis utilizing 56 KDa partial genes. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2022 Mar 23;16(3):e0010256. Epub 2022 Mar 23.

Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Research Medicine Unit (MORU), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.

In this study, we estimated exposure for Scrub typhus (STG), Typhus (TG) and Spotted fever groups (SFG) rickettsia using serology at a fine scale (a whole sub-district administration level) of local communities in Nan Province, Thailand. Geographical characteristics of the sub-district were divided into two landscape types: lowland agricultural area in an urbanized setting (lowland-urbanized area) and upland agricultural area located close to a protected area of National Park (upland-forested area). This provided an ideal contrast between the two landscapes with low and high levels of human-altered habitats to study in differences in disease ecology. Read More

Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2022 03;22(3):191-194

Department of Pulmonology, Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, National Children's Regional Medical Center, Hangzhou, China.

Mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible splenial lesion (MERS) is a rare clinicoradiological syndrome characterized by transient mild encephalopathy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of a reversible lesion in the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC). Multiple causes have been proposed for the pathogenesis of MERS, with infection as the most pre-eminent. We report the case of a 10-year-old girl with MERS due to scrub typhus. Read More

Neurol Sci 2022 Mar 19. Epub 2022 Mar 19.

Department of Neurology, University Hospital "12 de Octubre", Madrid, Spain.

Turk J Emerg Med 2022 Jan-Mar;22(1):47-50. Epub 2022 Jan 20.

Department of General Medicine, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.

Scrub typhus (ST) has wide organ system involvement, but cardiac involvement is paramount in this spectrum due to early hemodynamic compromise. Various forms of cardiac involvement have been described in the literature, but we are describing rare electrocardiographic changes in the ST infection. A young male presented in our emergency department with complaints of restlessness and vomiting of 2 days' duration. Read More

Neuroophthalmology 2022 4;46(2):99-103. Epub 2021 Jun 4.

Department of Neurology, University Hospital "12 de Octubre", Spain.

Scrub typhus, an acute febrile infectious disease prevalent in the "Tsutsugamushi Triangle", is a mite-born rickettsial zoonosis, caused by . Although the clinical presentation is protean, it rarely causes abducens nerve palsy. We report a 14-year-old previously healthy Indian girl who presented with a recent onset right abducens nerve palsy and headache, but without fever and without the classic dermatological manifestation ("eschar") of the disease. Read More

Hong Kong Med J 2022 02;28(1):82-84

Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The Hong Kong Children's Hospital, Hong Kong.