Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

"Leptotrombidium scutellare"

Original Article

Seroepidemiological Survey of Zoonotic Diseases in Small Mammals with PCR Detection of Orientia tsutsugamushi in Chiggers, Gwangju, Korea: Jung Wook Park, Jae Keun Chung, Sun Hee Kim, Sun Ju Cho, Yi Deun Ha, So Hyang Jung, Hye Jung Park, Hyun Jae Song, Jung Yoon Lee, Dong Min Kim, Jah Pyus, Dong Ryong Ha, Eun Sun Kim, Jae Il Lee; Korean J Parasitol 2016;54(3):307-313.
Published online June 30, 2016; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2016.54.3.307

Abstract
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Serosurveillance for zoonotic diseases in small mammals and detection of chiggers, the vector of Orientia tsutsugamushi, were conducted from September 2014 to August 2015 in Gwangju Metropolitan Area. Apodemus agrarius was the most commonly collected small mammals (158; 91.8%), followed by Myodes regulus (8; 4.6%), and Crocidura lasiura (6; 3.5%). The highest seroprevalence of small mammals for O. tsutsugamushi (41; 26.3%) was followed by hantaviruses (24; 15.4%), Rickettsia spp. (22; 14.1%), and Leptospira (2; 1.3%). A total of 3,194 chiggers were collected from small mammals, and 1,236 of 3,194 chiggers were identified with 7 species of 3 genera: Leptotrombidium scutellare was the most commonly collected species (585; 47.3%), followed by L. orientale (422; 34.1%), Euchoengastia koreaensis (99; 8.0%), L. palpale (58; 4.7%), L. pallidum (36; 2.9%), Neotrombicula gardellai (28; 2.3%), and L. zetum (8; 0.6%). L. scutellare was the predominant species. Three of 1,236 chigger mites were positive for O. tsutsugamushi by PCR. As a result of phylogenetic analysis, the O. tsutsugamushi strain of chigger mites had sequence homology of 90.1-98.2% with Boryong. This study provides baseline data on the distribution of zoonotic diseases and potential vectors for the development of prevention strategies of vector borne diseases in Gwangju metropolitan area.

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Brief Communication

Larval Chigger Mites Collected from Small Mammals in 3 Provinces, Korea: In-Yong Lee, Hyeon-Je Song, Yeon-Joo Choi, Sun-Hye Shin, Min-Kyung Choi, So-Hyun Kwon, E-Hyun Shin, Chan Park, Heung-Chul Kim, Terry A. Klein, Kyung-Hee Park, Won-Jong Jang; Korean J Parasitol 2014;52(2):225-229.
Published online April 18, 2014; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2014.52.2.225

Abstract
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A total of 9,281 larval chigger mites were collected from small mammals captured at Hwaseong-gun, Gyeonggi-do (Province) (2,754 mites from 30 small mammals), Asan city, Chungcheongnam-do (3,358 mites from 48 mammals), and Jangseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (3,169 for 62 mammals) from April-November 2009 in the Republic of Korea (= Korea) and were identified to species. Leptotrombidium pallidum was the predominant species in Hwaseong (95.8%) and Asan (61.2%), while Leptotrombidium scutellare was the predominant species collected from Jangseong (80.1%). Overall, larval chigger mite indices decreased from April (27.3) to June (4.9), then increased in September (95.2) and to a high level in November (169.3). These data suggest that L. pallidum and L. scutellare are the primary vectors of scrub typhus throughout their range in Korea. While other species of larval chigger mites were also collected with some implications in the transmission of Orientia tsutsugamushi, they only accounted for 11.2% of all larval chigger mites collected from small mammals.

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83 Download
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Original Article

Monthly Occurrence of Vectors and Reservoir Rodents of Scrub Typhus in an Endemic Area of Jeollanam-do, Korea: Seung Hyun Lee, Young-Sun Lee, In Yong Lee, Jae Won Lim, Hee-Kwan Shin, Jae-Ran Yu, Seobo Sim; Korean J Parasitol 2012;50(4):327-331.
Published online November 26, 2012; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2012.50.4.327

Abstract
PDF

Monthly surveys were conducted to investigate the occurrence of chigger mites and seroprevalence of scrub typhus among small mammals in Jeollanam-do, the southwestern part of Korea, from November 2006 through October 2007. Fifty-eight small mammals, including 57 Apodemus agrarius (98.3%) and 1 Crocidura lasiura (1.7%), were captured, and a total of 4,675 chigger mites representing 4 genera and 8 species were collected from them. The chigger infestation rate among small mammals was 69.0%. The most predominant species in A. agrarius was Leptotrombidium scutellare (54.0%), followed by Leptotrombidium pallidum (39.4%), Leptotrombidium orientale (4.4%), Leptotrombidium palpale (1.1%), Neotrombicula tamiyai (0.6%), Eushoengastia koreaensis (0.3%), Neotrombicula gardellai (0.3%), and Cheladonta ikaoensis (<0.1%). The chigger index of A. agrarius was the highest in October (740.0), followed by November (242.0), September (134.6), March (98.3), February (38.2), January (35.3), December (34.5), April (30.8), and May (1.7). The average antibody positive rate of scrub typhus in wild rodents was 50.0%. The seropositive rates were high in October (100.0%) and November (83.3%), whereas those in other months were relatively low (28.6-57.1%). The chigger index of L. scutellare rapidly increased in September to form an acuminate peak in October, followed by a gradual decline. These results suggest that the outbreak of scrub typhus in the southwestern part of Korean peninsula is mostly due to L. scutellare.

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