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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #280655
Title: Development of life stages of Leptotrombidium imphalum and Leptotrombidium chiangraiensis (Acari: Trombiculidae) uninfected and infected with the scrub typhus rickettsia, Orientia tsustugamushi

Author
item PHASOMKUSOLSIL, SIRIPORN - Armed Forces Research Institute Of Medical Sciences
item TANSKUL, PANITA - Armed Forces Research Institute Of Medical Sciences
item RATANATHAM, SUPAPORN - Mahidol University
item WATCHARAPICHAT, POCHAMAN - Royal Thai Army
item PHULSUKSOMBATI, DUANGPORN - Royal Thai Army
item FRANCES, STEPHEN - Armed Forces Research Institute Of Medical Sciences
item LERDTHUSNEE, KRIANGKRAI - Chulalongkorn University
item Linthicum, Kenneth - Ken

Submitted to: Journal of Medical Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/17/2012
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Scrub typhus is a disease of humans that is caused by a rickettsial organism called Orientia tsutsugamushi. The disease causes significant illness if not treated with the proper antibiotics. Humans are infected by the bite of infected chigger mites. We examined the development times of 2 important species of chigger mites that were either infected or not infected. We found that infection of the mites with the agent that causes scrub typhus lengthened the developmental times from egg to adult stages.

Technical Abstract: Leptotrombidium chiangraiensis Tanskul and Linthicum and Leptotrombidium imphalum Vercammen-Grandjean are important vectors of scrub typhus in ricefield habitats in northern Thailand. The developmental biology of all stages of the life cycle of two generations of mites infected with Orientia tsutsugamushi and uninfected mites of both species is reported. Development times of infected lines of F1 L. imphalum and L. chiangraiensis were not significantly different. The development of the infected lines of both F1 and F2 L. chiangraiensis were significantly longer than their respective uninfected lines (p<0.05). The development times of uninfected and infected F1 lines of L. imphalum were not significantly different; however, F2 infected lines took significantly longer to develop (p<0.05).