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Page No. : 18-20

ABSTRACT

Scrub typhus is a zoonotic, vector-borne disease posing a significant public health threat across the Asia-Pacific region, including India with the expanding distribution. Rodents serve as reservoir host for Orientia tsutsugamushi, causative agent for scrub typhus and could be a good sentinel animal to identify disease hotspot to prevent outbreaks in humans. The study aims to identify source and burden of scrub typhus in rodent population of a village in Bareilly district that recorded sporadic outbreak of scrub typhus but data on disease status in rodents was lacking. A total of 50 field rodent/shrew samples were collected from the affected village from different locations. The spleen tissue, blood and fecal samples were collected and screened using nested PCR targeting tsa56 gene of Orientia tsutsugamushi. Overall 26% positivity of scrub typhus in rodent population was noted. Among the different matrices, spleen tissue showed highest positivity of 24% followed by 4% by blood and 2% by fecal samples. The representative positive samples by PCR have been confirmed as scrub typhus by sanger sequencing. The significant positivity in rodent population implies the risk of scrub typhus in the concerned village and by extension in the nearby areas in Bareilly district. The study underscores the importance of rodent surveillance to determine risk of zoonotic transmission and suggest health authorities to implement targeted prevention and control measures to prevent future disease outbreak.

Key words: Sentinel surveillance, rodents/shrews, outbreak investigation, scrub typhus, Orientia tsutsugamushi