Figure 5-16. The transmission cycle of scrub typhus in nature.
c. Military Importance. While susceptibility is general, epidemics occur when
non-native susceptibles such as United States troops are brought into endemic areas.
Scrub typhus assumed military importance when it was encountered during World War
II operations in the Southwest Pacific area and in the China-Burma-India Theater
among both Allied and Japanese Forces.
d. Transmission. The infection is maintained in a mite-to-mite cycle through
transovarian infection of progeny, and in a mite-to-mite-wild rodent-mite cycle. Both
mites and rodents are reservoirs for the disease.
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