[Occurrence of Tsutsugamushi disease infection by Orientia tsutsugamushi, Kawasaki serotype, in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan]

Kansenshogaku Zasshi. 2009 Sep;83(5):496-9. doi: 10.11150/kansenshogakuzasshi.83.496.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

Of 95 Tsutsugamushi disease case occurring in Yamagata prefecture from 1999 to 2006, four-all women-involved the O. tsutsugamushi Kawasaki serotype. The three major symptoms were fever, exanthema, and eschar present from mid-October to early November. Serodiagnosis by indirect immunofluoresence assay showed elevated IgG and IgM antibody titers against the Kawasaki serotype antigen, with IgM higher than IgG. Nested PCR detected 56-kDa DNA in three of the cases. DNA was amplified in Kawasaki-specific PCR. Two cases for which sequencing was done using nested PCR-amplified DNA showed an identity of 99.8% for the Kawasaki strain (Accession number: M63383). These results confirmed the occurrence of Tsutsugamushi disease infection involving Kawasaki serotype in Yamagata prefecture.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Japan / epidemiology
  • Middle Aged
  • Orientia tsutsugamushi / isolation & purification*
  • Scrub Typhus / epidemiology*
  • Scrub Typhus / microbiology*
  • Serotyping