Preliminary findings of a seroepidemiological survey of arthropod-borne rickettsioses in Malaysia

Abstract

A total of 609 febrile patients from 7 localities in Malaysia was examined for infection with scrub, tick and murine typhus, by the Indirect lmmunoperoxidase Test. Based on lgG titers, tick typhus was the most prevalent (33. 7 ± 24.5) followed by scrub (2.3 ±2.9) and murine typhus (20.6 ± 22.1). Single infection occurred only in 40% of cases; mixed infection of tick and murine typhus were the most common. Generally there was no significant association between prevalence and ethnicity, age, sex, as well as occupation. Further studies on the pathogen-host-vector relationship of these 3 rickettsial infections should be undertaken.