No abstract available.
Korea* ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne*

A pathologic splenic rupture is rare, occurring primarily in a spleen affected by infective, hematological, and neoplastic disease. To the best of our knowledge, no prior reports of a pathologic splenic rupture due to scrub typhus exist. Intrasplenic pseudoaneurysms and focal infarctions are visible on an initial CT scan. Moreover, the spontaneous splenic rupture occurred a week later. We report a case of nontraumatic-splenic rupture in a patient with scrub typhus.
Aneurysm, False ; Humans ; Infarction ; Rupture ; Scrub Typhus ; Spleen ; Splenic Rupture ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

We report two cases of murine typhus diagnosed by indirect immunofluorescent test. The patients showed cardinal symptoms and signs such as fever and chill, general myalgia, intractable headache and typical rash. Laboratory values and histopathologic findings were compatible with murine typhus. The oral administration of doxycycline improved dramatically the clinical manifestations of the two CCLSPS.
Administration, Oral ; Doxycycline ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Headache Disorders ; Humans ; Myalgia ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne*

Murine typhus is an acute febrile illness caused by Rickettsia typhi. It is one of the four major acute febrile illnesses in Korea during autumn. To study a species-specific antigen of R. typhi, two clinical isolates (87-91 and 87-100) and two reference strains (VR-144 and VR-738) were analyzed by mouse antisera and monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). On SDS- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), R. typhi showed major antigen bands of 135, 80, 75, 64, 47, 22, and 19 kDa and these bands differed with those of other species. On Western blot analysis, the MAbs reacting only with R. typhi could only detect 135 kDa protein. The 135 kDa protein appeared to be the species-specific antigen. Other MAbs showing cross-reactivity with R. prowazekii reacted with 135 kDa protein in fresh culture supernatant of R. typhi infected host cell. However, the cross-reacting antibody did also react with smaller protein bands, most of which seem to be degradation products of the 135 kDa protein since they increase in old protein stocks purified from R. typhi harvested from infected host cell. These suggest that 135 kDa protein is unstable and the R. typhi specific epitopes are located at the regions of 135 kDa protein that are removed when the protein is degraded. The 135 kDa protein or its specific and stable recombinant protein would serve an important target for the development of vaccine and specific diagnostic antigen.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Blotting, Western ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Epitopes ; Immune Sera ; Korea ; Mice ; Rickettsia typhi* ; Rickettsia* ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

Murine typhus is one of the most prevalent rickettsial infections in the world, caused by the bacterial genus Rickettsia. Though the disease manifests a relatively benign clinical course with fever, rash, and headache being the 3 classic symptoms, neurological complications may arise in patients that could become permanent. In this case study, a patient with a brain abscess caused by R typhi infection is described. Based upon the recent reemergence of arthropod-borne disease, the findings in this case are significant; R typhi can cause a brain abscess that mimics a brain tumor, which delays the diagnosis and appropriate management of the disease. Murine typhus should always be considered when performing the differential diagnosis of brain abscesses in South Korea.
Brain Abscess* ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Headache ; Humans ; Korea ; Rickettsia* ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

PURPOSE: To evaluate the chest radiographic findings of rickettsial disease including murine typhus and tsutsugamushi disease in Chunchon. MATERIALS & METHODS: Chest radiographic films of 81 cases diagnosed as rickettsial disease(55 cases of tsutsugamushi disease, 26 cases of murine typhus) by immunofluorescence test were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Main serotypes of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi were Gilllain and Karp. Incidence rate of tsutsugamushi disease was 2.1 times greater than that of murine typhus. Chest radiographs were abnormal in 63.6% of tsutsugamushi disease, and in 30.8% of murine typhus. Radiographic findings were Kerly's B line, reticu-Ionodular densities, hilar enlargement, pleural effusion, and splenomegaly in both entities, but pulmonary consolidation was only found in tsutsugamushi disease. The patients with the abnormal radiographic findings were statistically well correlated with cardiomegaly(p<0.01) and azygos engorgement(p<0.05), as compared to the patients with normal radiographic findings. CONCLUSION: Radiographic findings of both murine typhus and tsutsugamushi disease were interstitial pattern. But the chest radiographs in patients with tsutsugamushi disease showed more severe pattern with higher rate of abnormality.
Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Gangwon-do* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Pleural Effusion ; Radiography, Thoracic* ; Retrospective Studies ; Scrub Typhus* ; Splenomegaly ; Thorax* ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne*

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HIFRS), scrub typhus, murine typhus and leptospirosis have been the principal acute febrile diseases in Korea. To evaluate the seroepidemiologic patterns of acute febrile illness, sera collected from 2,423 patients in 1996 were examined for antibodies against Hantaan virus, Orientia tsutsugamushi, Rickettsia typhi, and Borrelia burgdorferi by indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique (IFA) and macroscopic agglutination test for Leptospira interogans. Seropositive cases against O. tsutsugamushi, Rickettsia typhi, Leptispira interogans and Hantaan virus were 192 (7.9%), 193 (8.0%), 12 (0.5%) and 324 (13.4%), respectively. Male was more affected in HFRS and murine typhus contrasting to scrub typhus and leptospirosis in female. Most positive cases occurred during October and November for scrub typhus, and during November and December for HFRS. These results showed similar patterns with previous epidemical data for recent couple of years, and possibly implied no significant changes occurred in ecologic situations for acute febrile diseases in Korea.
Agglutination Tests ; Antibodies ; Borrelia burgdorferi ; Female ; Hantaan virus ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; Humans ; Korea* ; Leptospira ; Leptospirosis ; Male ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Rickettsia typhi ; Scrub Typhus ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), scrub typhus, murine typhus and leptospirosis have been the principal acute febrile diseases in Korea for many years. To evaluate the seroepidemiologic patterns of the acute febrile illness, sera collected from 4,503 patients in 1997~1998 were examined for antibodies against Hantaan virus, Orientia tsutsugamushi and Rickettsia typhi by indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique (IFA) and macroscopic agglutination test for Leptospira interogans. Seropositive cases for Orientia tsutsugamushi, Rickettsia typhi, Leptospira interogans and Hantaan virus were 261 (12.4%), 242 (11.5%), 11 (0.5%), and 250 (11.9%) in 1997, and 415 (17.3%), 273 (11.4%), 16 (0.7%), and 357 (14.9%) in 1998, respectively. Male was affected more frequently by HFRS and leptospirosis while scrub typhus was more prevalent in female. Old age group was more susceptible to the acute febrile diseases. Most positive cases were occurred during October and November for scrub typhus, and during November and December for HFRS. These results showed similar patterns with previous epidemiological data obtained during recent several years, except the single scrub typhus epidemic in 1998, and implied that no significant changes occurred in ecologic system for acute febrile diseases in Korea.
Agglutination Tests ; Antibodies ; Ecosystem ; Female ; Hantaan virus ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; Humans ; Korea* ; Leptospira ; Leptospirosis ; Male ; Orientia tsutsugamushi ; Rickettsia typhi ; Scrub Typhus ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

BACKGROUND: The principal acute febrile diseases reported in autumn, Korea, have been hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), scrub typhus, murine METHODS: To evaluate the seroepidemiologic patterns of acute febrile illness in Korea, sera were collected from 5330 patients from 1994 to 1995, and examined for antibodies against Hantaan virus, Orientia tsutsuga-mushi, Rickettsia typhi, and Borrelia burgdorf eri by indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique(IFA) and by macroscopic agglutination test for Leptosp ira intero-gans. RESULTS: Of 640 seropositive cases against O. tsutsu-gamushi, 60% were female; age group of the seventh decade occupied 30%; 89% were reported during October and November. By IFA test, the seropositive rate of murine typhus was 3.5% (187/5330) with high incidence rate (44%) in the period from October to December, and males in their forties and fifties were mostly affected. Cases seropositive for leptospirosis consisted 1% of 5330 acute febrile illness cases. Of 55 seropositive cases, 71% were male; 71% were in their sixties; 78% occurred during the period from August to October. Hantavirus seropositive rate was 12.2% (649/5330) with a high incidence rate (70%) in the period from October to January and males in the thirties were mostly infected. No seropositive case of Lyme disease was present. CONCLUSION: The above results indicate that hantavirus, O. tsutsugamushi, R. typhi, and L. interogans were the main causative agents of acute febrile diseases during autumn season in Korea.
Agglutination Tests ; Antibodies ; Borrelia ; Female ; Hantaan virus ; Hantavirus ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Leptospirosis ; Lyme Disease ; Male ; Rickettsia typhi ; Scrub Typhus ; Seasons ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

The crystalline surface layer protein (SLP) and a 28-32 kDa antigen of Rickettsia typhi were known as strong immunogens. We previously reported a cloning and sequence analysis of the SLP gene of R. typhi (slpT) and showed that the open reading frame of this gene encodes both the SLP and a 32-kDa protein. Our study also showed that a 48-kDa protein reacted strongly with polyclonal antiserum of a patient with murine typhus. In this study, we produced three recombinant proteins (SLP, 32-kDa, and 48-kDa protein) in E. coli as fusion proteins with maltose binding proteins. The reactivity of these proteins with patients' sera was investigated.
Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; Crystallins ; Humans ; Maltose-Binding Proteins ; Open Reading Frames ; Recombinant Proteins ; Rickettsia typhi* ; Rickettsia* ; Sequence Analysis ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne