In News: An outbreak of Scrub Typhus (also known as Bush Typhus), a bacterial disease, has caused 5 deaths and 600 infections in Nagaland’s Noklak district bordering Myanmar.
About Scrub Typhus
- Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by a bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi. Scrub typhus is spread to people through bites of infected larval mites.
- The mites are found in grasslands, forests, bush areas, wood piles, gardens, and beaches.
- Scrub Typhus can also be transmitted through unscreened blood transfusions and unhygienic needles. It does not spread from person to person.
- The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches, and sometimes rash.
Key Points
- It is a disease caused by a bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi.
- Symptoms of scrub typhus usually begin within 10 days of being bitten. Signs and symptoms may include:
- Fever and chills
- Headache
- Body aches and muscle pain
- A dark, scab-like region at the site of the chigger bite
- Mental changes, ranging from confusion to coma
- Enlarged lymph nodes
- Rash
- Scrub typhus should be treated with the antibiotic and most effective if given soon after symptoms begin.
- Occurrence: Rural areas of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China, Japan, India, and northern Australia.
- No vaccine is available to prevent scrub typhus.
- Spread: Through bites of Larval Mites of family trombiculid, also called Chiggers.
Typhus
- Typhus is a group of bacterial infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus.
- Epidemic typhus is due to Rickettsia prowazekii spread by body lice.
- Scrub typhus is due to Orientia tsutsugamushi spread by chiggers.
- Murine typhus is due to Rickettsia typhi spread by fleas
Source: The Hindu
