Scrub Typhus: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention

According to Assam health officials, the health department has ordered to shut down a Covid-19 hospital at Sarusajai in Guwahati temporarily after 29 cases of the newly detected virus found in the hospital.

The victim of the virus is Rajpratim Das who is the Superintendent of the hospital, few nurses, health workers, and some other patients are also victims of the virus.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that bacteria 'Orientia tsutsugamushi' is the main cause of the disease.

People get infected by it after getting bit by infected larval mites. Another name for bacterial fever is 'Bush typhus'.

The symptoms of the disease are like other viral fevers including fever, cold, headache, body aches, rashes, muscle soreness and etc.

However, no vaccination is available for the disease.

Other than India, this newly detected virus is also found in parts of Indonesia, China, Japan, and parts of northern Australia.

According to CDC, an infected person needs to treat with the medication doxycycline, and adults and kids should be covered from head to toe to avoid bites of mosquitoes and chiggers.

In another hand the Indian Government think tank NITI Aayog has, reportedly, warned that one more COVID-19 wave would hit the country this year. According to the NITI Aayog, COVID-19 third wave would attack the country from September which impact would be more devastating than its first two waves. "Around 23 percent of the total infected persons may have to be hospitalized. The severity of the infection would increase. It is feared that the infection rate may increase from October," a report said based on the NITI Aayog's observation.

What is Scrub Typhus?

Scrub Typhus is a disease caused by rickettsia or orientia bacteria. You can get it from infected mites, fleas, or lice.

Modern hygiene has mostly stopped typhus, but it can still happen in places where basic sanitation is bad or if it gets passed on by an infected animal.

Scrub Typhus Symptoms

With any kind of typhus, you'll start to feel ill about 10 days to 2 weeks after the typhus bacteria get into your body. You'll likely have:

Chills

Fever

Headache

Muscle aches like what you'd have with the flu

A rash several days after the other symptoms start

Scrub Typhus Causes

Insects and other parasites spread murine and epidemic typhus when they bite you and leave bacteria-laden feces on your skin.

When you scratch the itching bug bite, you can spread the infected feces into the open bite wound or other cuts on your skin's surface. That moves the typhus bacteria into your bloodstream.

You can get scrub typhus if a mite infected with the bacterium bites you, even if you don't scratch the bite.

Scrub Typhus Diagnosis

If your doctor thinks you have typhus, you'll get a blood test to check for typhus bacteria, especially if you've traveled to an area where typhus is common.

It can sometimes take weeks to get those blood test results. So the doctor may recommend you start antibiotic treatment right away to be safe.

Scrub Typhus Treatment

The most effective therapy for all three kinds of typhus is the antibiotic doxycycline.

A single dose of doxycycline has proved effective against epidemic typhus. Doxycycline also works quickly on other strains of the disease. For the best results, you should take it as soon as possible after your symptoms start.

If you're allergic to doxycycline or if it doesn't work, doctors may choose another antibiotic such as ciprofloxacin (Cipro).