초록
Tsutsugamushi disease or scrub typhus cause by Orientia tsutsugamushi is an endemic disease in Korea. Chigger mites and field rodents play roles in transmission of the disease by the vector and host of the agent. The purpose of this study is to investigate the density of the chigger mites and field rodents due to environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, soil thickness and the various vegetations to the 9 field rodent collection sites. The total 62 field rodents was captured by the Sherman collapsible traps from April to October 2009 at the Jangseong of Jeonnam Province, Korea. The trapping rate of the field rodents by the different collecting sites was dominant at subside storage water (24%), bush near by dam (22%), bank around field (20%), followed by 18% of grassy field and surround cattle shed. The distribution of chigger mites by the different collecting sites was the highest at Bush near by dam (28.7%). And the sites of subside storage water, bank around field and surround cattle shed were 20.4%, 18.8%, 16.4%, respectively. On the other hand the collecting sites of stream bank and ridges between rice paddies were not collected. The temperature to the collecting sites was showed $24.1^{\circ}C$ in June and $24.2^{\circ}C$ in October which was higher than April ($10.6^{\circ}C$), whereas lower than May ($25.3^{\circ}C$) and September ($26.8^{\circ}C$). The highest number of mites was collected at $24.2^{\circ}C$ and 46.6% relative humidity in October. The chigger mites and field rodents were highly collected between 18 and 24% at the sites where are loosely in the superficial layers of the soil from 8.0 cm to 10.2 cm. Total 25 species of vegetation were distributed at the collecting sites. In the present study, strong evidence was found that bank around field and grassy field were provided for the prevalence sites of tsutsugamushi disease.