Scrub typhus
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| Scrub typhus Classification and external resources |
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| 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 and transmitted by chiggers, which are found in areas of heavy scrub vegetation. This variety of typhus was known in Japan as tsutsugamushi disease, hence the formal name, and was also prevalent in Malaysia and Australia. According to J. R. Audy, severe epidemics of the disease occurred among troops in what was then known as Burma and Ceylon during the World War II. 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.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, cough, and gastrointestinal symptoms. More virulent strains of O. tsutsugamushi can cause hemorrhaging and intravascular coagulation.
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.
[edit] References
- Audy, J. R. "Red Mites and Typhus." London: The Athlone Press. 1968. ISBN 0485263181
- Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Summer 1994, Vol. 5, no. 2
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