Odisha: 10 more scrub typhus cases take tally to 832   

Overall 193 scrub typhus cases have been reported in Sundargarh and one of them succumbed to the disease.

Bhubaneswar: Ten more people were found positive for scrub typhus infection in Odisha in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of such cases to 832, a health official said on Tuesday.

All the new cases were detected in Sundargarh district, he said.

---

Fifty-nine samples have been tested in the past 24 hours, of which 10 were found positive, Sundargarh chief district medical officer Kanhucharan Nayak said.

Earlier, 183 of 901 samples sent for testing were detected positive for the scrub typhus infection in the district.

“Overall 193 scrub typhus cases have been reported in Sundargarh and one of them succumbed to the disease,” he said.

The maximum number of such cases were found in Rourkela and Sundargarh towns and Majhapada area, Nayak said.

Keonjhar recorded the highest number of scrub typhus infections at 627, but no death was reported from the district,  CDMO Kishore Kumar Prusty said.

Twelve positive cases were found in Bargarh district, and six of them died, another official said.

Scrub typhus infection spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).

An expert team from Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla visited Bargarh on September 16.

The state health department is now probing into the six scrub typhus death cases, Bargarh CDMO Jitendra Mohan Bebarta.

Public health director Niranjan Mishra said early diagnosis of the disease can prevent further complications.

The government has strengthened its surveillance system, and a number of tests have also been enhanced across the state, he added.