Bhubaneswar: Odisha Public Health Director Dr. Niranjan Mishra today said that a total of 2020 Scrub Typhus positive cases have been detected in the State out of the 22077 samples tested.
As testing has increased, there has been a steady rise in positive cases in several districts of the state including Keonjhar, Nabarangpur and Sundargarh. There is no need to panic, the PH Director assured.
The scrub typhus infection spreads when a chigger bites someone. The persons who frequently visit farmland or forests are vulnerable to the infection, Dr Mishra alerted people about the mite-borne disease.
The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever and a black inflamed mark on the skin called ‘eschar’. When the fever continues for several days, the patient should go through an ELISA test for detection of scrub typhus.
The test is available at the district public health laboratories in the state. If diagnosed early, the disease can be treated effectively.