A novel zinc oxide-binding peptide (ZBP), FPYPGGDA, with high affinity to ZNP (Ka = 2.26 × 106 M−1) was isolated from a random peptide library and fused with a bacterial antigen, ScaA of Orientia tsutsugamushi, the causative agent of scrub typhus. The gene discussed is ZP4; the disease is scrub typhus.