Coinfection With Severe Fever With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome and Scrub Typhus in Korea.

BACKGROUND

Scrub typhus and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) are the 2 most common tick-borne infectious diseases in Korea. Every year, an increasing number of cases are reported, which is a public health concern. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of SFTS-scrub typhus coinfection in patients with SFTS.

METHODS

Clinical samples were collected from 129 patients with SFTS. One-step reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to identify the SFTS virus (SFTSV), and real-time PCR followed by nested PCR was performed to detect the gene for scrub typhus. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to confirm the evolutionary relationships among different species.

RESULTS

Among 129 SFTS cases, 2 patients with SFTSV were positive for with a prevalence of coinfection of 1.6% (95% confidence interval, .001-.06). Phylogenetic analysis confirmed these as strain Boryong.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study found that 1.6% of patients were coinfected with SFTS and scrub typhus infection. We believe that this information will add a new dimension to clinical diagnosis, which should be considered for better public health management. Further research is needed to better understand the ecological transmission dynamics and geographical distribution of SFTSV and in endemic countries.