Sundargarh: Scrub typhus is spreading at an alarming rate in Odisha’s Sundargarh district with 25 more scrub typhus cases detected in the district in the last 24 hours.
Now, the total number of scrub typhus patients in the district has increased to 355. One person reportedly succumbed to this mite-borne disease in Sundargarh last month while another patient is currently being treated in ICU.
According to officials, 108 blood samples were sent for testing on Thursday, and 25 of them tested positive.
The increase in scrub typhus cases in western Odisha has become a huge challenge for the state Health Department and the local administration has initiated various measures to curb the highly infectious disease from spreading.
Worth mentioning, scrub typhus spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites). The common symptoms of the disease include fever and a black inflamed mark on the skin called ‘eschar’. People who frequently visit farmland or forests are vulnerable to the infection.
It is worth mentioning here that scrub typhus has also affected Odisha’s Bargarh district which has witnessed seven deaths so far.
Amid a rise in scrub typhus cases, a four-member Central team visited Bargarh district and took stock of the situation.
