NEW DELHI, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The health department in India's eastern state of Odisha has intensified testing following an increase in the cases of scrub typhus and eight reported deaths, officials said Friday.
"Some districts have reported the deaths and we are at present investigating eight deaths," said Niranjan Mishra, director of health services in Odisha.
Mishra said the ongoing year has witnessed an increase in the cases of scrub typhus across the state, mainly because the testing has increased.
Last year around 1,500 cases were detected in the state, the director said.
Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by a bacterium called Orientia tsutsugamushi. It spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites). The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches, and sometimes rash.
"In this disease, the prevention is very, very difficult because it spreads with the contact of very small mites present in the fields. So people working in fields, bushy areas, vegetation and forests are susceptible to the infection," Mishra said. "Hence early testing is necessary to prevent complications."
Officials said the health department is working to raise public awareness about the disease and urge doctors and health workers to persuade people suffering from fever and other related symptoms to go for testing.
"In the initial phase, the disease responds to commonly used antibiotics which are in plenty available at our hospitals. So if it is treated in the initial phase, it does not go into complications. Once the disease goes into complications, there is multi-organ involvement and then usually the death rate rises," the director said.
Health officials have urged people to cover their bodies while going out for work in fields and vegetation and then wash their bodies, especially their legs, with soap and water after work. ■
