Can you cure orientia tsutsugamushi?
Orientia tsutsugamushi
O. tsutsugamushi is naturally maintained in the mite population by transmission from female to its eggs (transovarial transmission), and from the eggs to larvae and then to adults (transtadial transmission). The mite larvae, called chiggers, are natural ectoparasites of rodents. Humans get infected upon accidental contact with infected chiggers. A scar-like scab called eschar is a good indicator of infection, but is not ubiquitous. The bacterium is endemic to the so-called Tsutsugamushi Triangle, a region covering the Russian Far East in the north, Japan in the east, northern Australia in the south, and Afghanistan in the west. One million infections are estimated to occur annually. Antibiotics such as azithromycin and doxycycline are the main prescription drugs; chloramphenicol and tetracyclin are also effective. Diagnosis of the infection is difficult and requires laborious techniques such as Weil–Felix test, rapid immunochromatographic test, immunofluorescence assays, and polymerase chain reaction. There is no working vaccine.
Orientia tsutsugamushi
In rodent and human infections, Leptotrombidium deliense is the most universal vector of O. tsutsugamushi. L. pallidum, L. fletcheri and L. scutellare are also carriers in many countries. In addition, L. akamushi is an endemic carrier in Japan, L. chiangraiensis and L. imphalum in Thailand, L. gaohuensis in China, and L. arenicola in Malaysia and Indonesia.[3] In parts of India, a different mite species, Schoengastiella ligula is also a major vector.[34] The third-stage larvae, commonly referred to as chiggers, are the only ectoparasitic stage feeding on the body fluids of rodents and other opportunistic mammals. Thus, they are the only stage in the life of mites that cause infection. Wild rats of the genus Rattus are the principal natural hosts of the chiggers.[35] Chiggers feed only once on a mammalian host. The feeding usually takes 2 to 4 days. Contrary to most parasites, they do not feed on blood, but instead on the body fluid through the hair follicles or skin pores. They possess a special feeding apparatus called stylostome on their heads. Their saliva can dissolve the host tissue around the feeding site, so that they ingest the liquefied tissue. O. tsutsugamushi is present in the salivary glands of mites and is released into the host tissue during this feeding.[36]