A high prevalence of murine typhus was found in the human and rodent populations of Senaling, West Malaysia. In addition to 2 index cases which prompted the investigation, 45% of the humans and 35% of the rodents had IFA titers of 1/50 or greater. Serological studies provided evidence of recent infections in 3 human subjects. In a control group of Malaysian soldiers IFA titers of 1/50 or greater were found in only 13 (5%) of 265 sera tested.
Dog sera, collected from different communities throughout Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, were investigated for the presence of antibodies to R. tsutsugamushi and R. typhi. Scrub typhus antibodies were present in animals from the rural areas only, whereas murine typhus antibodies were observed in equal numbers of dogs from both rural and metropolitan areas. Greater percentage of dogs from suburban areas had demonstrable antibody titers to murine typhus than from the urban area.