[Clinical manifestations and epidemic factors of autumn-winter type scrub typhus in children from northern new endemic area].

Objective: Scrub typhus is an infectious disease due to Orientia tsutsugamushi transmitted by infected chigger mites. Scrub typhus has long been recognized to occur in southern areas of China, but has recently been increasingly often reported from the north since the first case was reported in Mengyin County, Shandong Province in 1986. The key objectives of the present study were to investigate the clinical manifestations and epidemic factors of scrub typhus in children from the northern new natural foci.

[Amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis on the complete sequence of Sta56 gene of Orientia tsutsugamushi isolated from Shandong area].

Objective: To analyze the genetic differences of Orientia tsutsugamushi (Ot) Sta56 gene between Shandong isolates and other strains deposited in GenBank.

Methods: PCR and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were used to amplify the complete sequence of Ot-Sta56 gene. RFLP profiles of Ot were predicted by a computer program according to their complete sequences of Ot-Sta56 gene.