Typhus Group Rickettsiosis, Brazilian Amazon
Antônio Humberto Hamad Minervino, Marcelo B. Labruna, Salatiel R. Dias, Francisco Borges Costa, Thiago Fernandes Martins, Phablo N.S. da Silva, Álvaro A. Faccini‐Martínez
Abstract
cropland areas are associated with high risk for infection (2,3,6). Northeast Jeju Island, which includes SH, AW, and HD, has many farms and wetlands, and the IR of SFTSV in ticks peaked there in July, August, and September. In addition, SFTSV was detected in ticks in winter on Jeju Island, but no SFTS cases were reported in South Korea during winter. The 62 confirmed SFTS cases were statistically significantly associated with higher ambient temperature (22.5C +4.2C) compared with patients with negative RT-PCR results for SFTSV (18.9C +5.7C; p<0.001) (J.R. Yoo, unpub. data). The optimal temperature range for growth and reproduction of H. longicornis ticks is 20-24. Jeju Island maintains a temperature >20 during May-October and is largely a rural and natural environment. We consider this area to have the highest prevalence of SFTS cases and ticks with SFTSV in South Korea.