title: Rickettsia japonica sp. nov., the etiological agent of spotted fever group rickettsiosis in Japan.
abstract: We propose the name Rickettsia japonica sp. nov. (with type strain YH [= ATCC VR-1363]) for a serologically specific species of spotted fever group rickettsiae that are pathogenic for humans (J. Infect. Dis. 159:1122-1126, 1989; J. Clin. Microbiol. 28:1177-1180, 1990). The biologic and genomic characteristics of the organism (G+C content, 31.2 +/- 0.7 mol%) are essentially the same as those of other pathogenic spotted fever group rickettsiae, although the R. japonica isolates cause a persistent infection in Vero cells for many subcultures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumano
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D014709:Vero Cells