Epidemiological studies on host animals of tsutsugamushi disease in Korea

, Ree, H I; , Lee, H S; , Lee, I Y; , Yoshida, Y

doi:1991.29.2.181

Korean J Parasito > Volume 29(2):1991 > Article

Original Article


Korean J Parasitol. 1991 Jun;29(2):181-188. English. Published online Mar 20, 1994. http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.1991.29.2.181
Copyright © 1991 by The Korean Society for Parasitology


Epidemiological studies on host animals of tsutsugamushi disease in Korea
H I Ree,H S Lee,I Y Lee and Y Yoshida^*
Department of Parasitology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.


Abstract
Epidemiological studies on host rodents of tsutsugamushi disease were carried out during the period of July-September 1990 at nine localities of central Korea. Among total 111 wild rodents trapped by the modified Sherman live traps, 103 were Apodemus agrarius (92.8%), seven were Crocidura lasiura (6.3%) and one was Microtus fortis (0.9%), showing 24.0% of trapping rate in winter, 11.7% in spring, 11.2% in summer and 12.0% in autumn. Out of 103 A. agrarius 84 were parasitized by chiggers, showing 81.6% of the infestation rate and 43.0 of the chigger index. The antibody positive rate of A. agrarius sera to Rickettsia tsutsugamushi was significantly variable by locality, being in the range of 0-78.6%. The seasonal change of the antibody positive rate at Dorai 5-ri, Goyang-gun was 75.8% in average during November-March, decreased to 30.3% in April and further decreased to 13.3% in average during May-August. Among 33 antibody positives, 31 were Karp strain and two were Gilliam. Seven Crocidura lasiura sera showed all negative. R. tsutsugamushi organisms were isolated from three A. agrarius out of 94 mice tested, showing 3.2% of the infection rate.

Figures


	Fig. 1 Seasonal change of the antibody positive rates of A. agrarius to R. tsutsugamushi at Dorai 5-ri, Goyang-gun in 1989-1990.

Tables


	Table 1 Field rodent collections during th period of July 1989~July 1990


	Table 2 Trapping rate of wild rodents by season in 1989~1990


	Table 3 Antibody positive rates of Apodemus agrarius sera against Rickettsia tsutsugamushi^*


	Table 4 Antibody titer of Apodemus agrarius positive sera against R. tsutsugamushi strains by meas of IFA test


	Table 5 Detection fo R. tsutsugamushi antigen from wild rodents by means of IFA test

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