This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Scrub typhus is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Scrub typhus Classification and external resources |
|
 |
|
|---|---|
| Orientia tsutsugamushi | |
| ICD-10 | A75.3 |
| ICD-9 | 081.2 |
| DiseasesDB | 31715 |
| eMedicine | derm/841 ped/2710 |
| MeSH | D012612 |
Scrub typhus is a form of typhus caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi.[1]
Although it is similar in presentation to other forms of typhus, it is caused by an agent in a different Genus, and is frequently classified separately from the other typhi.
Contents |
Causes
It is transmitted by chiggers, which are found in areas of heavy scrub vegetation.
It is most common in Asia.[2] This variety of typhus was known in Japan as tsutsugamushi disease, hence the formal name, and was also prevalent in Malaysia and Australia.
Contact with species related to the chigger mite, found in many parts of the world, can also cause an intense irritation of the human skin.
It affects females more than males in Korea, but not in Japan.[3]
Symptoms
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, cough, and gastrointestinal symptoms. More virulent strains of O. tsutsugamushi can cause hemorrhaging and intravascular coagulation.
Vaccine
An early attempt to create a scrub typhus vaccine occurred in the United Kingdom in 1937 (with the Wellcome Foundation infecting around 300,000 cotton rats in a classified project called "Operation Tyburn", but the vaccine was not used.[4]
History
According to J. R. Audy, severe epidemics of the disease occurred among troops in what was then known as Burma and Ceylon during World War II.[5]
References
- ^ Tseng BY, Yang HH, Liou JH, Chen LK, Hsu YH (February 2008). "Immunohistochemical study of scrub typhus: a report of two cases". Kaohsiung J. Med. Sci. 24 (2): 92–8. PMID 18281226.
- ^ scrub typhus at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
- ^ Bang HA, Lee MJ, Lee WC (March 2008). "Comparative research on epidemiological aspects of tsutsugamushi disease (scrub typhus) between Korea and Japan". Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. 61 (2): 148–50. PMID 18362409.
- ^ "AWIC Newsletter: The Cotton Rat In Biomedical Reserach".
- ^ Audy, Jack Ralph (1968). Red mites and typhus. [London]: University of London, Athlone Press. ISBN 0-485-26318-1.
 |
This infectious disease article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 3 September 2008, at 01:29.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Scrub typhus".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.