Emerging Infectious Diseases (Aug 2017)

Serologic Evidence of Scrub Typhus in the Peruvian Amazon

  • Claudine Kocher,
  • Ju Jiang,
  • Amy C. Morrison,
  • Roger Castillo,
  • Mariana Leguia,
  • Steev Loyola,
  • Julia S. Ampuero,
  • Manuel Cespedes,
  • Eric S. Halsey,
  • Daniel G. Bausch,
  • Allen L. Richards

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2308.170050
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 8
pp. 1389 – 1391

Abstract

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Using a large, passive, febrile surveillance program in Iquitos, Peru, we retrospectively tested human blood specimens for scrub typhus group orientiae by ELISA, immunofluorescence assay, and PCR. Of 1,124 participants, 60 (5.3%) were seropositive, and 1 showed evidence of recent active infection. Our serologic data indicate that scrub typhus is present in the Peruvian Amazon.

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