Establishment of Orientia tsutsugamushi Lc-1 (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) infection in ICR outbred mice (Rodentia: Muridae) by needle challenge.

Orientia tsutsugamushi is a pathogen transmitted by Leptotrombidium that causes scrub typhus. To develop an infection mouse model, a mite-derived isolate of O. tsutsugamushi was established from a laboratory-maintained colony of Leptotrombidium chiangraiensis (O. tsutsugamushi Lc-1). This Lc-1 isolate was initially presented to ICR (CD-1) mice by feeding an infected Lc chigger on the ear of a mouse. Once the Lc-1 was adapted to the ICR mice, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to investigate O. tsutsugamushi genomic equivalent copies in tissues and sera. Furthermore, times to onset of the signs of infection are reported in this study. This study provides information useful for future research on this host-pathogen interaction and the associated vaccine efficacy trials.