Rickettsia tsutsugamushi infections in chiggers and small mammals on a mature oil palm estate.

An epidemiological study in a mature oil palm estate in Peninsular Malaysia has demonstrated a low prevalence of R. tsutsugamushi infection in small mammals. The direct fluorescent antibody technique for assaying infections in chiggers proved more sensitive than mouse inoculation. Most infections in both chiggers and rodents were caused by the Karp strain.

Virulence and antigenic properties of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in a naturally infectei laboratory colony of Leptotrombidium (leptotrombidium) arenicola.

Over 1,200 isolations of R. tsutsugamushi were obtained over 7 generations of L. (L.) arenicola and no reproducible differences in virulence or antigenic markers could be detected among these isolations. The F8 generation yielded rickettsia with the same antigenic makeup and virulence properties as the original female parent mite. When these isolates were inoculated into mice they elicited the same predominant antibody specificities, i.e. they all produced antibody which reacted with the TA 763 and Karp strains. These were the same as the major antigens detected by direct fluorescent antibody staining of the isolates.

Presence of antibodies to scrub typhus and murine typhus in dogs from Selangor, Peninsular, Malaysia.

Dog sera, collected from different communities throughout Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, were investigated for the presence of antibodies to R. tsutsugamushi and R. typhi. Scrub typhus antibodies were present in animals from the rural areas only, whereas murine typhus antibodies were observed in equal numbers of dogs from both rural and metropolitan areas. Greater percentage of dogs from suburban areas had demonstrable antibody titers to murine typhus than from the urban area.

Numbers of Leptotrombidium (Leptotrombidium) deliense (Acarina: trombiculidae) and prevalence of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in adjacent habitats of peninsular Malaysia.

Numbers of L. (L.) deliense larvae were determined in adjacent habitats over a 16 month period. Both R. argentiventer and R. tiomanicus were highly efficient hosts for L. (L.) deliense. R. argentiventer was host to significantly greater numbers of chiggers per rat than was R. tiomanicus. The 2 habitats were similar in numbers of chiggers collected. No consistent correlation was apparent between numbers of chiggers and any single weather factor, but the chigger population seemed to be adversely affected by a 2 month period during which total evaporation greatly exceeded total rainfall. Direct fluorescent antibody examination of tissues from unfed L. (L.) deliense showed that 2 of 420 larvae (0.5%) contained organisms morphologically resembling R. tsutsugamushi. Considering the vector load and numbers of chiggers being returned to the ground by a given host, a rate of 0.5% appeared adequate to account for the prevalence rate of R. tsutsugamushi observed in the 2 host species.

Protection against scrub typhus infection engendered by the passive transfer of immune sera.

The passive transfer of convalescent sera did not protect the majority of mice against challenge with the homologous strain and was completely ineffective against challenge with strains unrelated by fluorescent antibody techniques. When the immune sera was incubated with the rickettsia in vitro and then inoculated into the mice a dramatic increase occurred in the number of surviving mice. The importance of these data in relation to published results with other species of rickettsia is discussed.