title: Orientia tsutsugamushi in eschars from scrub typhus patients.
abstract: To verify the value of eschars for the diagnosis of scrub typhus and to characterize genotypes of Orientia tsutsugamushi in patients, we examined eschars and blood specimens of 7 patients from Shandong Province, People's Republic of China, for O. tsutsugamushi by polymerase chain reaction targeting the Sta56 gene. All 7 eschars and acute-phase blood samples were positive, while no specific DNA amplicons were obtained from the 7 convalescent-phase blood samples collected after antimicrobial drug therapy. The findings indicate that patients' eschars can be used for detection and genetic characterization of O. tsutsugamushi during the convalescent phase.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yun-Xi
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wu-Chun
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Jing-Lan
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhan-Qing
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhong-Tang
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Janet E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Foley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012285:Orientia tsutsugamushi / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012612:Scrub Typhus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial