Orientia tsutsugamushi Infection in Wild Small Mammals in Western Yunnan Province, China.

Small mammals can transmit and serve as a reservoir for () in nature by carrying infected mites. In Yunnan, one of China's main foci of scrub typhus, etiological evidence and genetic diversity for is limited. A total of 2538 small mammals were captured seasonally from 2015 to 2016 in the three counties of Yunnan, and the spleen or liver tissue was examined for based on 56 kDa nPCR. The overall prevalence of was 1.77%, ranging from 0.26 to 9.09% across different species. The strain was found in 35.6% (16/45) of the wild small mammals, followed by the 11.1% (5/45) and (1/45) strains, the last of which was discovered in western Yunnan for the first time. In Lianghe, infection rates in wild small mammals were higher than in the other two counties. The infection rates of with were highest in the three dominant species. infection rates in wild small mammals were higher in Lianghe (1200-1400 m) and Yulong (2800-3000 m). These findings could provide research clues for further confirmation of scrub typhus foci in western Yunnan or other similar natural environments.