BHOPAL: After coronavirus attack, the state may face attack of scrub typhus (bacterial disease). In all, 50 cases were detected in MP’s districts, which are adjacent to Rajasthan boarder few years back. This year, the disease seems to be knocking the state’s door.
The state health department has been put on alert to check spread scrub typhus cases. The department has sent teams in districts of Jabalpur division to know the ground reality. “As per directives of ministry of health and family welfare, we have dispatch teams to Jabalpur division to know the ground reality of scrub typhus infection. We are monitoring the situation in the state specially in districts located on borders of other states,” additional director (health) Dr Vina Sinha said.
The department has a reason to worry as the disease claimed five lives in Nagaland recently. In Rajasthan, 700 cases have been brought to notice. “Many states struggling to get rid of Covid infection for the last seven months are now faced with a new challenge - scrub typhus,” a health department official said.
Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, spreads to people through bites of larval mites, which feed on infected rodents and subsequently transmit the parasite to other rodents and humans. The bite of this mite leaves a characteristic black eschar that helps doctors in diagnosis.
Signs and symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain, cough, and gastrointestinal symptoms. More virulent strains of O tsutsugamushi can cause haemorrhage and intravascular coagulation.
