{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T20:47:06Z","timestamp":1786999626599,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,6]],"date-time":"2026-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767657600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":5,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Epidemiol. Infect."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Orientia tsutsugamushi<\/jats:italic>\n                    , the causative agent of scrub typhus, is endemic to the Asia\u2013Pacific region. In South Korea, the Boryong strain is considered dominant; however, nationwide phylogeographic distribution and genetic diversity based on clinical isolates remain incompletely characterized. In this study, 121\n                    <jats:italic>O. tsutsugamushi<\/jats:italic>\n                    clinical isolates were collected from scrub typhus patients at 11 hospitals across South Korea between 2015 and 2024. Isolates were genotyped using\n                    <jats:italic>56-kDa<\/jats:italic>\n                    gene sequencing and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of seven housekeeping genes. Sequence analysis and phylogenetic reconstruction were performed using BLAST, PubMLST, BURST, MEGA11, DnaSP6, and R-based tools. Five\n                    <jats:italic>56-kDa<\/jats:italic>\n                    genotypes were identified: Boryong (93.4%), Ikeda, Je-cheon, Young-worl, and Yeo-joo. MLST revealed 11 sequence types (STs), including five novel STs. While the Boryong strain and related STs were distributed nationwide, minor strains showed restricted distribution in northern regions. Several isolates sharing the same\n                    <jats:italic>56-kDa<\/jats:italic>\n                    genotype exhibited different MLST STs, indicating possible recombination or local microevolution. This study provides the first nationwide MLST-based characterization of\n                    <jats:italic>O. tsutsugamushi<\/jats:italic>\n                    in South Korea and demonstrates the dominance of the Boryong strain alongside localized diversity. Our findings underscore the utility of MLST for higher-resolution typing and support the need for continued molecular surveillance to inform regional epidemiology and disease management.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0950268825100988","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,6]],"date-time":"2026-01-06T05:37:57Z","timestamp":1767677877000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Phylogeographic diversity of\n                    <i>Orientia tsutsugamushi<\/i>\n                    strains from clinical isolates in South Korea"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"154","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2868-6748","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hyungsuk","family":"Kang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Medicine, Konkuk University"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Medicine, Konkuk University"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Konkuk University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yeon-Joo","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Medicine, Konkuk University"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Konkuk University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Changmin","family":"Oh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04jgeq066","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"National Institute of Health, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dong-Min","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0131gn249","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Chosun University Hospital"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yeon-Sook","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0227as991","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Medicine, Chungnam National University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kwangjun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04jgeq066","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"National Institute of Health, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2866-4370","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Won-Jong","family":"Jang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Medicine, Konkuk University"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"School of Medicine, Konkuk University"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/025h1m602","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Konkuk University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"S0950268825100988_r15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.13-0064"},{"key":"S0950268825100988_r4","first-page":"589","article-title":"Classification of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi in a new genus, Orientia gen. 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Published by Cambridge University Press","name":"copyright","label":"Copyright","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}},{"value":"This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.","name":"license","label":"License","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}},{"value":"This content has been made available to all.","name":"free","label":"Free to read"}],"article-number":"e14"}}