At least five people in Odisha died in a month due to scrub typhus infection, which spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites), an official said on Wednesday.
While two of the deceased were from Sohela block, Attabira, Bheden and Barpali blocks of Bargarh district reported one such death case each, said Bargarh Chief District Medical and Public Health Officer, Sadhu Charan Das.
Those who died of the infection were diagnosed in hospitals outside the district, he said, adding that two cases were detected in Burla Medical College, two others in a private hospital and another in a Bolangir hospital.
Das said that 142 samples were tested for scrub typhus detected in the district between September 1 and 10. Of these, four were found positive and all are now doing fine.
As many as 168 samples were tested in Bargarh district during August. However, no one was found infected with scrub typhus, he said.
Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra alerted people about the mite-borne disease. The scrub typhus infection spreads when a chigger bites someone. The persons who frequently visit farmland or forests are vulnerable to the infection, he said.
The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever and a black inflamed mark on the skin called ‘eschar’, Mishra said.
When fever continues for several days, the patient should go through an ELISA test to scrub typhus. The test is available at the district public health laboratory of all district headquarters hospitals in the state.
If diagnosed early, the disease can be treated effectively, he said.
Scrub typhus cases have been detected in several other districts including Keonjhar, Nabarangpur and Sundergarh. However, there is no need to panic, the director said.
