Abstract
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC? Scrub typhus (ST) causes public health challenges in the "tsutsugamushi triangle" in the Asia-Pacific area greater than 13 million square kilometers, affecting an estimated one million people each year. WHAT IS ADDED BY THIS REPORT? A retrospective study based on 4,501 hospitalized patients with ST in Guangzhou City, China, described the epidemiological and clinical characteristics, laboratory findings of ST, and determined the related factors and a predictive model for severe disease. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE? The current study provided updated knowledge that might enable public health policymakers to formulate appropriate measures to prevent ST and medical workers to perform targeted management to recognize and treat severe ST patients.