A Case of Scrub Typhus Imported from South Korea to Yamagata, Japan

Scrub typhus, also called tsutsugamushi disease, is a rickettsiosis clinically characterized by fever, rash, and eschar (1). This disease is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, which is transmitted to humans by larval trombiculid mites (1). The disease is endemic across much of Oceania and the Asia-Pacific region (1). Recently, the numbers of cases of this disease have been increasing in some Asian countries: 3.8-fold in 13 years in South Korea (2), 8.3-fold in 8 years in China (3), and 1.4-fold in 6 years in Taiwan (4).