ABSTRACT
The seroprevalence of Orientia tsutsugamushi (OT), Rickettsia typhi (RT) and TT118 spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR) among blood donors and febrile Malaysian patients in the urban areas was determined. Of the 240 blood donors, 5.4%, 9.2% and 1.7% had either present or previous exposure to OT, RT and SFG rickettsiae, respectively. Patients admitted to an urban hospital had high seroprevalences of OT (43.5%) and RT (22.9%), as compared to SFGR (11.6%). Antibody levels suggestive of recent infections of scrub typhus, murine typhus and tick typhus were detected in 16.8%, 12.7% and 8.2% of patients respectively. No significant difference was noted in the distribution of rickettsial antibodies among urban patients from 2 geographical locations. However, the serologic patterns of rickettsial infection in the urban areas were different form those of rural areas.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Blood Donors , Child , Female , Fever/epidemiology , Humans , Infant , Malaysia/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Orientia tsutsugamushi/immunology , Prevalence , Rickettsia Infections/diagnosis , Rickettsia typhi/immunology , Scrub Typhus/diagnosis , Urban Population/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
A seroepidemiological survey of 837 people and 383 febrile patients was performed in rural areas of Sabah. We determined that the rickettsial diseases scrub typhus and endemic typhus were uncommon causes of febrile illness, as was tick typhus, except in forest dwelling peoples. The rate of occurrence of SFGR specific antibody was 16.5% among 412 forest dwellers, indicating that tick typhus may be a frequent cause of illness in this population.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Child , Female , Humans , Malaysia , Male , Orientia tsutsugamushi/immunology , Rickettsia rickettsii/immunology , Rickettsia typhi/immunology , Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever/diagnosis , Rural Population , Scrub Typhus/diagnosis , Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne/diagnosisABSTRACT
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.