Emergency Number
Scrub Typhus bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi has created havoc in the Nagpur area and already claimed 12 lives. The District Health Organization is already on high alert and the officer has directed the gram panchayats already to go for a pesticide treatment in the affected areas as well as surrounding ones. The disease is caused when a tiny insect called Chigger Mites bites someone. Chigger mite is found over bodies or large animals, grass, or bushes and is 0.2mm to 0.4 mm in size. Over 50 percent of the people who get infected by this bacteria need to seek immediate medical attention or they are most probably bound to die of it.
In Nagpur, the cases of scrub typhus are on the rise wherein 38 patients in the government medical college and hospital have tested positive already besides 44 more patients in the Nagpur division itself. Nagpur is not the first place to get affected by this bacteria. This disease spread its wings across Japan for the first time in 1899 and in Russia during the first world war, where it claimed the lives of over 30 lac people.
The symptoms of scrub typhus include the following:
When the condition turns severe or worse, then bleeding and multiple organ failure could happen too.
Scrub typhus diagnosis and treatment
Based on the symptoms, blood tests are carried out to diagnose the condition and based on the symptoms the doctor will direct the treatment. So, if you experience one or more of the above symptoms while living in an area or surrounding area where Scrub Typhus is common then do get yourself checked. The best idea is to protect yourself from this deadly health condition by using full sleeves clothes, mosquito repellents of 20 to 30 DEET.
As per the health minister of the state, though it is deadly in nature there are medicines available to treat the disease and hence people in and around Nagpur and hence there is no need of panic around it.
