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The causative agents of scrub and murine typhus are considered endemic to Indonesia. However, the presence of spotted fever group rickettsiae and ehrlichiae have not been previously described in this country. During an investigation of arthropod-borne diseases on Gag Island, located northwest of the island of New Guinea in eastern Indonesia, the prevalence of antibody to the etiologic agents of monocytic ehrlichiosis, spotted fever rickettsiosis, and scrub and murine typhus were determined. Analysis of 55 blood samples from residents of Gag Island showed serore-activity to antigen preparations of Ehrlichia chaffeensis (7 of 48, 14.6%), two spotted fever group rickettsiae: Rickettsia rickettsii (5 of 48, 10.4%) and R. conorii (10 of 49, 20.4%), Orientia tsutsugamushi (5 of 53, 9.4%), and R. typhi (1 of 48, 2.1% [by an indirect immunofluorescence assay] and 1 of 50, 2.0% [by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay]). These results show serologic evidence of infection with ehrlichiae and spotted fever group rickettsiae for the first time in Indonesia in a location where the prevalence of antibody to O. tsutsugamushi and R. typhi was lower.
Received July 30, 2001. Accepted for publication November 21, 2002.
Acknowledgments: We thank Purnomo, Dwiko Susapto, and Iwa Sumawinata for valuable field assistance in sample collections, and Jane Markley and MRL Diagnostics for providing the IFA slides.
Financial support: This investigation was supported by the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) No. NCRADA-NAMRU-2-97 between U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 and Broken Hill Proprietary Mineral Resources, Inc. (San Francisco, CA), and the U.S. Naval Medical Research and Development Command (Bethesda, MD), Work Unit No. 620531-6.2-1J-EJX-2412.
Disclaimer: The opinions and assertions contained herein are those of the authors and do not reflect official views or policy of the U.S. Department for the Navy, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the Ministry of Health, Republic of Indonesia.
Authors’ addresses: Allen L. Richards, Rickettsial Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500. Sutanti Ratiwayanto, Eko Rahardjo, and Michael J. Bangs, U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2, Jakarta, Indonesia, APO AP 96520-8132, Telephone: 62-21-421-4457 to -4463, Fax: 62-21-424-4507. Daryl J. Kelly, 12230 Flint Ridge Road, Newark, OH 43056, Telephone: 740-323-0160. Gregory A. Dasch, Rickettsial Section, Viral and Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, Telephone: 404-639-4140, Fax: 404-639-2778. David J. Fryauff, Malaria Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500, Telephone: 301-319-7583.
Reprint requests: Allen L. Richards, Rickettsial Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910-7500, Telephone: 301-319-7668, Fax: 301-319-7451, E-mail: RichardsA{at}nmrc.navy.mil
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