Orientia tsutsugamushi /ôr′e·enshe′ə tso̅o̅tso̅o̅gəmo̅o̅′she/ [L, oriens, east; Jpn, tsutsuga, illness + mushi, tick] , a species of organisms, formerly known as Rickettsia tsutsugamushi, that causes scrub typhus. It is widespread throughout southern and eastern Asia, northern Australia, Indonesia, and the Pacific islands and is transmitted from infected rodents to humans by mites of the family Trombiculidae.
