Detection of Orientia spp. Bacteria in Field-Collected Free-Living Eutrombicula Chigger Mites, United States

Abstract

Scrub typhus, a rickettsial disease caused by Orientia spp., is transmitted by infected larval trombiculid mites (chiggers). We report the molecular detection of Orientia species in free-living Eutrombicula chiggers collected in an area in North Carolina, USA, to which spotted fever group rickettsiae infections are endemic.

Keywords

• Orientia tsutsugamushi
• Eutrombicula
• chigger mites
• scrub typhus
• bacteria
• vector-borne infections