Canine seroprevalence to Orientia species in southern Chile: A cross-sectional survey on the Chiloé Island

Scrub typhus is a potentially life-threatening vector-borne infection caused by Orientia species. It occurs mainly in the Asian-Pacific region, where it causes significant morbidity and mortality. Recently, an endemic focus of scrub typhus has been described in South America, on Chiloé Island in sou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-07, Vol.13 (7), p.e0200362-e0200362
Main Authors: Weitzel, Thomas, Jiang, Ju, Acosta-Jamett, Gerardo, Martínez-Valdebenito, Constanza, López, Javier, Richards, Allen L, Abarca, Katia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
Biology and Life Sciences
Clustering
Cross-sectional studies
Data processing
Disease
Dogs
Earth Sciences
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Exposure
Households
Immunoglobulin G
Infections
Medical research
Medicine and Health Sciences
Morbidity
Orientia tsutsugamushi
Pathogens
People and places
Public health
Random sampling
Rickettsia
Rural areas
Scrub
Scrub typhus
Serology
Spatial analysis
Spatial data
Spatial distribution
Statistical sampling
Typhus
Urban environments
Vectors (Biology)
Zoonoses
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Summary:Scrub typhus is a potentially life-threatening vector-borne infection caused by Orientia species. It occurs mainly in the Asian-Pacific region, where it causes significant morbidity and mortality. Recently, an endemic focus of scrub typhus has been described in South America, on Chiloé Island in southern Chile. Dogs have been used as sentinel hosts to determine the presence and spatial distribution of various vector-borne infections. Their suitability to gain insight into human exposure to Orientia tsutsugamushi has been suggested in studies from Asia. In January 2016, we conducted a cross-sectional study, which included the two main cities on Chiloé Island. Canine blood samples were obtained in households, chosen by double stratified random sampling in urban and by convenience in rural locations. Specimens were tested by ELISA for IgG antibodies against whole-cell antigen preparations from three strains of O. tsutsugamushi. Data were further analyzed for factors associated with seropositivity including spatial clustering. Serum samples from 202 dogs (104 urban, 98 rural) were tested for IgG against O. tsutsugamushi, of which 43 (21.3%) were positive. Seroprevalence rates were higher in rural than in urban settings (p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0200362