They are obligate intracellular, gram-negative bacteria found in insects and mammals.

[4] In Chile scrub typhus is known to occur in the southern half of the country and in particular Chiloé Island and the fjords and channels of Patagonia.

Between 2015 and 2020 there was a total of 40 known cases in Chile with much of the people affected reporting to work in gathering and cutting firewood.

[5] According to Chilean scientist Katia Abarca the disease in Chile corresponds to an endemic variety of the bacteria and has thus not arrived from the "Tsutsugamushi Triangle".

[5] Based on a study in northern Chiloé Island mites living in rodents are thought to be reservoirs and vectors of the disease.