Scrub Typhus

Scrub Typhus Latest News

The recent death of an Anna University student at Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH) due to scrub typhus, has once again brought this bacterial infection to the fore. 

About Scrub Typhus

• It is a bacterial infection caused by the bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi.
• It is spread by the bite of infected larval mites or chiggers.
• Symptoms
  • Symptoms usually begin within 10 days of infection.
  • It includes fever and chills, headache, body aches and muscle pain, a dark, scab-like region at the site of the chigger bite (also known as eschar),
  • Mental changes ranging from confusion to coma, enlarged lymph nodes and a rash.
• Timely treatment is critical. If left untreated, severe illness from scrub typhus infection can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), shock, meningitis and kidney failure.
• It is not a contagious disease.
• Treatment
  • There is no vaccine as yet for scrub typhus.
  • It should be treated with the antibiotics doxycycline or azithromycin.

Key Facts about Typhus Fever

• Typhus (or typhus fever) is the name used for several different types of bacterial infections spread by bug bites that cause similar symptoms, like high fever and rash. 
• There are three types of illnesses commonly called typhus
  • Epidemic Typhus: It is caused by Rickettsia prowazeki and it is spread to people through contact with infected body lice. 
  • Scrub Typhus: It is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi and spread by chiggers.
  • Murine Typhus: It is caused by Rickettsia typhi spread by fleas. It occurs in tropical and subtropical climates around the world.

Source: TH

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