MillenniumPost
Bengal

Scrub typhus cases on the rise in districts

Kolkata: At a time when Covid has created fear psychosis among many people, the growing number of scrub typhus cases in the districts in the past few months has become a major cause of concern for the state Health department.

The districts where the maximum number of scrub typhus cases has been reported are Murshidabad, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly and East Midnapore. The Health department has already alerted the various district administrations to spread awareness among people so that the infection can be identified at the initial level. The senior district administrative officials have also been asked to keep a tab on the situation.

According to Health department sources, over 1000 scrub typhus cases have been reported across the state since January this year. More than 65 per cent of the total cases have been traced from the five districts. However, no patients have reportedly died due to scrub typhus so far. Many children from Murshidabad have been affected by scrub typhus in the past few weeks. Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital until a couple of days ago had received five to six scrub typhus cases per day. East and West Midnapore also witnessed such cases recently.

Medical practitioners said the patients can be cured if they start taking medication in the early stages but if the treatment is delayed, it would have an adverse impact on the patients. All patients are running a high temperature and many of them have various other symptoms which include vomiting. The disease is spread among people through the bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).

Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by bacteria called orientia tsutsugamushi and it commonly occurs in rural areas. The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches and sometimes rashes. Most cases of scrub typhus have so far been reported in rural areas of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China, Japan, India and Northern Australia.

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