A surveillance of chigger mites was performed to monitor the incidence of scrub typhus vectors at four environmental collection points in two locations (Sunchang and Haenam) in the Honam region of Korea from August to December 2023. During the surveillance period, 4,174 chigger mites were collected and the predominant species were Leptotrombidium scutellare (94.3%). The density of chigger mites had the peaked at 44 week (10.26~11.1), while the density of patients peaked at 45 week (11.2~11.8) respectively. A positive correlation (r=0.69) observed between scrub typhus patients and vectors. This result suggests that this vector surveillance method will be useful for alarm system of tsutsugamushi disease. However, the relationship between scrub typhus cases and chigger mite density will be studied through long-term periodic surveillance.

• Wonil Park(Division of Infectious Disease Diagnosis Control, Honam Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Republic of Korea)
• Hyeon Jeong Lee(Division of Infectious Disease Diagnosis Control, Honam Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Republic of Korea)
• Eun-Ah Yu(Division of Infectious Disease Diagnosis Control, Honam Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Republic of Korea)
• Chi-Kyeong Kim(Division of Infectious Disease Diagnosis Control, Honam Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Republic of Korea)
• Wook-Gyo Lee(Division of Infectious Disease Diagnosis Control, Honam Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Republic of Korea)