PREVALENCE OF GENOTYPES OF ORIENTIA-TSUTSUGAMUSHI IN PATIENTS WITH SCRUB TYPHUS IN MIYAZAKI PREFECTURE

The genotypes of Orientia tsutsugamushi in patients with scrub typhus in Miyazaki Prefecture were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR ) and the restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Specific pa tterns for genotypes Irie, Hirano, Tazume and Yoshimura were detected in 26, 6, 5 and 2 of 39 DNA samples obtained from peripheral blood mon onuclear cells, respectively. DNA sequences of the PCR products from t he Tazume strain were genetically very close to the Hirano strain and the Yoshimura strain was also very close to the Karp strain, Furthermo re, the DNA sequences from the Irie and Tazume strains were completely homologous to the reported sequences of the Kawasaki and Kuroki strai ns, respectively.