A REVIEW ON SCRUB TYPHUS

Scrub typhus is a zoonosis caused by the pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi (O. tsutsugamushi). The disease has significant prevalence in eastern and Southeast Asia. Several methods are effectual for diagnosis of scrub typhus that includes ELISA, IFA, ICT, Weil–Felix, PCR. Moreover, issues related to diagnostic assays, treatment, and preventive measures are also enumerated and described. Scrub typhus is endemic to a geographically distinct region, the so-called tsutsugamushi triangle, which includes Japan, Taiwan, China, and South Korea. It also occurs in Nepal, Northern Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and the Australian states of Queensland and Northern New South Wales. In India, the disease had occurred among troops during World War II in Assam and West Bengal, and in the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

Keywords: Scrub typhus, Orientia tsutsugamushi, diagnosis, treatment, symptoms, epidemiology, pathogenesis.