title: Determination and geographical distribution of Orientia tsutsugamushi serotypes in Korea by nested polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: Field rodents and chigger mites were collected at 30 locations in Korea in October and November 1997-1999 to determine the serotypes of Orientia tsutsugamushi and their geographical distribution. A nested polymerase chain reaction was performed with the spleen tissues from 546 field-striped mice (Apodemus agrarius) and 104 pools of chigger mites. The positivity rate of O. tsutsugamushi was 45.6% in A. agrarius and 39.4% in the chigger mite pools. Two serotypes, Boryong and Karp, were found in these samples; the former was predominant (78.3% in the mice and 82.9% in the chigger mite pools), with wide distribution throughout the country, including Cheju-do. The latter was confined to the middle of the Korean peninsula, with positivity rates of 15.7% in the mice and 12.2% in the chigger mite pools. The double infection of Karp and Boryong serotypes was found in 15 (6.0%) A. agrarius mice. Gilliam serotype was not detected at any of the study locations. The Boryong and Kuroki serotypes were identical in amino acid sequence of the 56-kDa protein, although they differed in virulence to BALB/c mice.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Ree
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: I Y
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: U W
authors.initials: UW
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D007723:Korea; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008925:Mites; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012285:Orientia tsutsugamushi / Q000145:classification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012703:Serotyping; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial