KOLKATA: At a time when a combination of seasonal viruses, influenza A, dengue, malaria and swine flu are wreaking havoc on people and there has been a spurt of influenza-like symptoms among large number of patients, a fresh scrub typhus fear has gripped people in East Midnapore and West Midnapore as many children are admitted in hospitals with similar symptoms.
Many private hospitals in the districts are seeing children getting admitted with fever triggered after being stung by an insect.
In the last month when scrub typhus cases were reported from different parts, the state health department made around 44 laboratories functional to perform confirmatory tests for scrub typhus. More than 15 scrub typhus cases were reported across the state in July. Most of the infected patients were children at that time as well.
In the wake of fresh scrub typhus fear, the coastal districts have been alerted and they have been urged to keep adequate critical care facilities ready as a precautionary measure to handle any unforeseen situation.
A senior official of the health department said that some cases of scrub typhus are reported almost every year. These cases are reported during monsoon and most of the infected cases are reported from rural areas.
Following the recent surge in scrub typhus cases, the School of Tropical Medicine, the BC Roy Children Hospital and all the five medical colleges in Kolkata started carrying out scrub typhus tests.
The health department has been keeping a tab on the situation. Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi and it commonly occurs in rural areas. The disease is spread among people through the bites of infected chiggers (larval mites), health experts said.
The districts where the maximum number of scrub typhus cases had been reported earlier are Murshidabad, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly and East Midnapore.