Isolation of Orientia tsutsugamushi from Leptotrombidium fuji and its characterization

In our attempts to isolate Orientia tsutsugamushi from trombiculid mites, a strain was successfully isolated from Leptotrombidium fuji collected in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. This is the first case of isolation of O. tsutsugamushi from L. fuji. A phylogenetic analysis based on the base-sequence homology of the 56-kDa type-specific antigen-gene indicated that the strain is a new type which is not closely related to any strains analyzed previously. Three strains isolated from Leptotrombidium pallidum harvested at the same area were identified as being closely related to the JP-2 type (subtype-2 of Karp type in Japan) by phylogenetic analysis.