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Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea
Scrub typhus is caused by the arthropod-borne bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi and is an endemic infectious disease in the Asia-Pacific area. This study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of scrub typhus and identify associated risk and protective factors among forestry workers, a neglected ris...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003109/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33803616 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063131 |
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author | Park, Ji-Hyuk Gill, Byoungchul Acharya, Dilaram Yoo, Seok-Ju Lee, Kwan Lee, Jeongmin |
author_facet | Park, Ji-Hyuk Gill, Byoungchul Acharya, Dilaram Yoo, Seok-Ju Lee, Kwan Lee, Jeongmin |
author_sort | Park, Ji-Hyuk |
collection | PubMed |
description | Scrub typhus is caused by the arthropod-borne bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi and is an endemic infectious disease in the Asia-Pacific area. This study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of scrub typhus and identify associated risk and protective factors among forestry workers, a neglected risk group for scrub typhus, in National Park Offices in South Korea. A nationwide cross-sectional serosurvey was carried out on 1945 National Park Office forestry workers (NPOFWs) in South Korea during December 2016. We visited 29 main offices and used a structured questionnaire to collect data regarding general characteristics, work activities, work hygiene-related factors, and other potential risk factors. Serum samples from NPOFWs were tested using indirect immunofluorescence assay to detect O. tsutsugamushi immunoglobulin (Ig) G and M antibodies. Of the 1945 NPOFWs, 718 (36.9%) participated in this cross-sectional study. The seroprevalence, defined as ≥1:256 for IgG and/or ≥1:16 for IgM, was 4.9% (35/718). In multivariate logistic analysis, longer duration of work in national parks (≥15 years; odds ratio (OR), 4.19; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.71–10.28) and dry field farming (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.12–5.46) were significantly associated with a higher risk of scrub typhus infection. Furthermore, the risk of scrub typhus infection was significantly lower among NPOFWs who washed working clothes daily (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.18–0.75). This study indicated that scrub typhus is an important disease among NPOFWs in South Korea. Work hygiene, especially washing working clothes daily, needs to be emphasized among NPOFWs. Additionally, more precautions are required to diminish the rate of scrub typhus infection among NPOFWs who perform dry field farming. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8003109 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-80031092021-03-28 Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea Park, Ji-Hyuk Gill, Byoungchul Acharya, Dilaram Yoo, Seok-Ju Lee, Kwan Lee, Jeongmin Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Scrub typhus is caused by the arthropod-borne bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi and is an endemic infectious disease in the Asia-Pacific area. This study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of scrub typhus and identify associated risk and protective factors among forestry workers, a neglected risk group for scrub typhus, in National Park Offices in South Korea. A nationwide cross-sectional serosurvey was carried out on 1945 National Park Office forestry workers (NPOFWs) in South Korea during December 2016. We visited 29 main offices and used a structured questionnaire to collect data regarding general characteristics, work activities, work hygiene-related factors, and other potential risk factors. Serum samples from NPOFWs were tested using indirect immunofluorescence assay to detect O. tsutsugamushi immunoglobulin (Ig) G and M antibodies. Of the 1945 NPOFWs, 718 (36.9%) participated in this cross-sectional study. The seroprevalence, defined as ≥1:256 for IgG and/or ≥1:16 for IgM, was 4.9% (35/718). In multivariate logistic analysis, longer duration of work in national parks (≥15 years; odds ratio (OR), 4.19; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.71–10.28) and dry field farming (OR, 2.47; 95% CI, 1.12–5.46) were significantly associated with a higher risk of scrub typhus infection. Furthermore, the risk of scrub typhus infection was significantly lower among NPOFWs who washed working clothes daily (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.18–0.75). This study indicated that scrub typhus is an important disease among NPOFWs in South Korea. Work hygiene, especially washing working clothes daily, needs to be emphasized among NPOFWs. Additionally, more precautions are required to diminish the rate of scrub typhus infection among NPOFWs who perform dry field farming. MDPI 2021-03-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8003109/ /pubmed/33803616 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063131 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Park, Ji-Hyuk Gill, Byoungchul Acharya, Dilaram Yoo, Seok-Ju Lee, Kwan Lee, Jeongmin Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea |
title | Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea |
title_full | Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea |
title_fullStr | Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea |
title_full_unstemmed | Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea |
title_short | Seroprevalence and Factors Associated with Scrub Typhus Infection among Forestry Workers in National Park Offices in South Korea |
title_sort | seroprevalence and factors associated with scrub typhus infection among forestry workers in national park offices in south korea |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003109/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33803616 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063131 |
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