| an infectious disease occurring chiefly in Japan and the East Indies, caused by the organism Rickettsia tsutsugamushi, transmitted by mites through biting. |
| scrub typhus n. An acute infectious disease common in Asia that is caused by the rickettsia Rickettsia tsutsugamushi transmitted by mites and that is characterized by sudden fever, painful swelling of the lymphatic glands, skin lesions, and skin rash. Also called Japanese river fever, tsutsugamushi disease. |
scrub typhus n.
An acute infectious disease common in Asia caused by Rickettsia tsutsugamushi and transmitted by mites; it is characterized by sudden fever, painful swelling of the lymph glands, skin lesions, and skin rash. Also called akamushi disease, Japanese river fever, mite typhus, tropical typhus, tsutsugamushi disease.
scrub typhus
acute infectious disease in humans that is caused by the parasite Rickettsia tsutsugamushi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of certain kinds of trombiculid mites, or chiggers. The causative agent of scrub typhus, the bacterium R. tsutsugamushi, is primarily a parasite of certain mites, of which two closely related species, Leptotrombidium (Trombicula) akamushi and L. deliens, are the carriers of the disease. During their larval stage, these mites acquire the infection from wild rodents or other small animals. The infection is passed to humans when a mite larva bites a person. Scrub typhus occurs in Southeast Asia and its associated archipelagoes and in Japan, in which latter country the disease was first described (1899) and systematically investigated (1906-32). During World War II scrub typhus killed or incapacitated thousands of troops who were stationed in rural or jungle areas in the Pacific theatre
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