Work

Emerging Rickettsioses of the Thai-Myanmar Border1

Year: 2003

Type: article

Abstract: Patients were selected from those enrolled and sampled from June 1999 to February 2002 in an on-going "fever study," which focuses on the etiology of undifferentiated febrile illnesses (oral temperature >38°C or history of fever within the past 48 h) in local residents >20 years of age.Criteria leading to the suspicion of rickettsioses included 1) a rash or eschar, 2) arthropod bites or recent exposure to the jungle, 3) a negative Giemsa-stained malaria smear, and 4) serum specimens that tested positive by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for SFG-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) M (PanBio, Brisbane, Australia) or dot-ELISA for total Ig of R. rickettsii or R. typhi (PanBio-INDX, Baltimore, MD).Serum specimens were sent to the Unité des Rickettsies in Marseille for specific diagnosis of rickettsioses.Serologic testing was performed by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) on acute-phase (day 0) and convalescent-phase (approximately day 21) samples.Serum specimens were tested by using a panel of 13 rickettsial antigens, including SFG rickettsiae (R. conorii Indian, R. japonica, R. honei, R. helvetica, R. slovaca, AT1 Rickettsia [13], R. felis, "R.heilongjiangii") typhus group rickettsiae (R. typhi), Orientia tsutsugamushi (strain Gilliam, Kato, Karp, and Kawazaki), Anaplasma phagocytophilum, 592

Source: Emerging infectious diseases

DOI: 10.3201/eid0905.020511