Genetic variants of Orientia tsutsugamushi identified from scrub typhus cases in Malaysia
H A Mohamed Zan1, Ponnampalavanar Sasheela2, S F S Omar2
1Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tropical Biomedicine
|February 13, 2021
Abstract:
We report herein the clinical presentation and diagnosis of scrub typhus in three patients attending a teaching hospital in Malaysia. Three genetic variants belonged to the Karp and Gilliam strains of O. tsutsugamushi were amplified from the acute blood samples of the patients by a nested polymerase chain reaction assay. The circulation of different genetic variants of O. tsutsugamushi strains might complicate the presentation and severity of scrub typhus. Loop-PCR is a promising diagnostic tool for rapid diagnosis of scrub typhus.


