Nine patients admitted in various hospitals in Kota on Thursday tested positive with scrub typhus. Six of them have died.
"Of the nine patients tested positive with scrub typhus, six patients, three from Bundi district, two from Jhalawar, one from Kota had died," said Dr. Vinod Prabhakar, an entomologist at Maharao Bhim Singh (MBS) hospital.
Around 38 samples were collected on Thursday (August 23) from various city hospitals. The samples were then tested for scrub typhus in a central lab.
The patients, who died between August 13 and August 20, were undergoing medical treatment. The Kota medical and health department is on high alert since Friday.
"Bacteria called Tsutsugamushi, generally found in saliva of a kind of mosquito in shrubs and bushes, causes scrub typhus," said Dr. LN Meena of a government hospital in Bundi. She also said that the symptoms of this disease are not easily visible physically.
The testing of the sample was delayed by the officials of the central lab. The reason cited behind this was the low inflow of samples in the central lab in the recent past. The samples were placed for testing only after collecting a considerably large quantity of it.
"The concerned officials of the central lab have been directed to take action for delay in testing the samples and they have also been instructed to conduct daily test of the collected samples and submit reports," said Dr. RK Lavania, chief medical and health officer (CMHO).
He said that the medical staff has also been asked to carry out fogging in the affected areas where the cases of scrub typhus had surfaced. CMHOs of Jhalawar and Bundi districts have been directed to take preventive measures in scrub typhus affected areas of their respective districts, added Lavania.
Scrub typhus is caused by a mite-borne bacterium called Orientia tsutsugamushi. Some news reports suggest that five people in Nagpur have also recently died due to scrub typhus
