Finance
On Tuesday, at least 10 new instances of the fatal scrub typhus were discovered in Odisha’s Sundargarh district, as the highly infectious disease appears to be spreading swiftly throughout the state.
The number of scrub typhus cases detected in Sundargarh has already reached 193 this year, according to Dr Kanhucharan Nayak, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Sundargarh.
As the disease spread over multiple western Odisha districts, the Public Health Directorate dispatched a special team to Bargarh and Sundargarh to assess the situation.
A Joint Director and an epidemiologist have also been dispatched to the Bargarh district to investigate the suspected death of five people after contracting scrub typhus.
According to Public Health Director Niranjan Mishra, another Joint Director has been dispatched to Sundargarh to assess the situation following an increase in the number of scrub typhus cases in the district.
Sundargarh’s CDMO stated that tests had been conducted on a daily basis since January of this year. In the last 24 hours, 59 samples were checked, and 10 people tested positive for the disease, bringing the total number of scrub typhus patients to 193.
As the infectious disease continued to spread during rainy season, an awareness push has been undertaken by doctors, nurses and ANM workers to sensitise people about the sickness.
Meanwhile, a new study has reportedly identified a significant prevalence of the illness among infants and high incidence of related acute kidney injury among patients.
The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, conducted a pilot study that found a 40% prevalence of scrub typhus among children with pyrexia of unknown origin and a high incidence of associated acute kidney injury among patients with a history of acute fever in the Keonjhar district.
So far, at least seven deaths have been reported in the state as a result of scrub typhus, and special teams deployed by the Public Health Directorate investigated the deaths during their visits to the districts of Bargarh and Sundargarh.
Source:OB
