An ecological study of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in the primary forest of Taman Negara, Peninsular Malaysia.

To investigate the ecology of scrub typhus in primary forest, a collection of small mammals and their ectoparasites was made in Taman Negara, Peninsular Malaysia. From the 35 mammals collected, 2 isolates of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi were made. These isolates were antigenically similar to the Karp and TA763 strains. Of the 2107 chiggers identified, only a single specimen of the known vector, Leptotrombidium (Leptotrombidium) deliense , was collected.