Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40833348›Full record

ArticleVeterinary medicine and science2025

Molecular Epidemiology and Genetic Diversity of Orientia tsutsugamushi From Patients and Small Mammals in Xiangyun County, Yunnan Province, China.

Li Chen, Yi-Chen Kong, Jia-Wei Tian, Pei-Yu Han, Song Wu, Chen-Jie He, Ti-Lian Ren, Bo Wang, Lian Qin, Yun-Zhi Zhang

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In one paragraph

Article in Veterinary medicine and science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Li ChenInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.
Yi-Chen KongInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.
Jia-Wei TianInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.
Pei-Yu HanInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.
Song WuInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.
Chen-Jie HeInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.
Ti-Lian RenXiangyun County People's Hospital, Dali, Yunnan, China.
Bo WangProgramme in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8560-9071
Lian QinXiangyun County People's Hospital, Dali, Yunnan, China.
Yun-Zhi ZhangInstitute of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Screening and Research on Anti-Pathogenic Plant Resources from Western Yunnan, Yunnan University Key Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease Cross-Border Prevention and Quarantine, Dali University, Dali, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4503-4824

Funding

Doctoral Research Start-up Fee Project of Dali University KYBS2018004High-Level Health and Family Planning Personnel Training Program of Yunnan Province L-2017027National Natural Science Foundation of China 81874274National Natural Science Foundation of China U2002218Project of Cross-Border Control and Quarantine Innovation Group of Zoonosis of Dali University ZKPY2019302
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionScrub typhus, also known as Tsutsugamushi disease (TD), is an acute febrile illness that poses a significant public health threat to nearly one billion people in the Asia-Pacific region. The disease is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi (OT) and is primarily transmitted through the bite of chigger mite larvae. Due to its nonspecific clinical manifestations, early diagnosis is challenging, often leading to misdiagnosis or untreated cases. Yunnan Province, located on China's border, reports the highest annual incidence of scrub typhus, highlighting the need to better understand OT infection in both human patients and small mammals in this region.

methodsIn this study, clinical data on scrub typhus cases in Xiangyun County People's Hospital were retrospectively collected. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and semi-nested PCR were used to amplify the 56-kDa type-specific antigen (TSA) from samples collected from 64 patients and 93 small mammals, representing six genera and nine species, in Xiangyun County, Yunnan Province, China. Complete sequences of the 56-kDa TSA for each genotype were obtained through primer-walking and subjected to evolutionary and recombination analyses.

resultsA total of 377 scrub typhus cases were enrolled at Xiangyun County Hospital from July 2015 to November 2020. The detection rates of OT in patients and small mammals were 28.13% (18/64) and 13.98% (13/93), respectively. Nine full-length 56-kDa TSA genes were identified, comprising four distinct genotypes: Karp-like (n = 3), Kato-like (n = 3), Gilliam (n = 2), and TA763 (n = 1). Patients infected with the Karp-like exhibited significantly more severe clinical symptoms, and the Karp-like genotype of patients was relatively common in Xiangyun County of Yunnan Province. The Gilliam-like and Karp-like genotypes were detected in the infected small mammals, and Apodemus chevrieri is a dominant species in cultivated fields. Recombination analysis revealed genetic overlap among strains of similar or different genotypes, suggesting that genetic diversity may contribute to the increased incidence of scrub typhus.

conclusionAt least four genotypes of OT were present among patients, and it was infected by OT that at least four species of  infected small mammals in cultivated areas and at least three species of infected small mammals in residential areas from Xiangyun County, Yunnan Province. The diversity of OT genotypes and infected small mammals, which causes frequent genetic recombination, is the main reason for the adaptive selection due to the genetic evolution of OT.

Indexed as

Genetic VariationOrientia tsutsugamushiScrub TyphusAgedAnimalsChinaFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMolecular EpidemiologyPhylogenyRetrospective Studiesgenetic diversitymolecular epidemiologyOrientia tsutsugamushirecombinationYunnan Province

Identifiers

PMID40833348
PMCPMC12366444

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.