Scrub-Typhus

Scrub-Typhus is a mite-borne disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi.

  • Scrub typhus, endemic in Asia-Pacific, is transmitted by the bite of chiggers (mite larvae).
  • Fever (often accompanied by an eschar at the bite site), chills, severe headache, and generalized lymphadenopathy start suddenly; a rash develops and spreads.
  • Treat with doxycycline, which results in rapid improvement even in severe cases.
  • Manifestations of scrub typhus are similar to those of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and epidemic typhus. However, scrub typhus occurs in different geographic areas (Asia-Pacific area bounded by Japan, Korea, China, India, and northern Australia), and frequently, an eschar develops with satellite adenopathy.
  • The clinical syndrome classically consists of a fever, rash, and eschar, but scrub typhus also commonly presents as an undifferentiated fever that requires laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis, usually by indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) assay. … The mainstay in scrub-typhus diagnostics remains serology.