The exposure of a research team to chigger mites in southern Chile allowed the first identification of a trombiculid species as vector and reservoir of scrub typhus outside the tsutsugamushi triangle, providing unique insights into the ecology and transmission of this recently discovered rickettsial infection in South America.
Keywords: Herpetacarus antarctica; Orientia species; scrub typhus; trombiculiasis; trombiculid mite.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.