Be aware!! There is an increase in Scrub Typhus cases in Chennai and across
In recent times, have you got fever, chills, headaches, muscle pain and rashes etc all of a sudden? Please take care as these symptoms could be due to Scrub Typhus.
Point to be noted is that TN recorded 10 active Scrub Typhus cases. As a result, the doctors have issued warnings regarding medical complications like myocardial infarction, respiratory illness, organ damage etc in the affected patients. In TN, no deaths have been recorded due to Scrub Typhus. Truth is that Scrub Typhus is commonly reported in countries like Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh etc.
According to Dr. S. Chandrasekar, head of the General Medicine dept at SMCH in Chennai, the Scrub Typhus disease was due to mite bites and mostly the people don`t notice immediately as it would not be painful. After 7 to 10days only symptoms appear and the symptoms include fever, chill, headache, muscle pain and rashes etc. He spoke about how scrub vegetation was infested with mites and how when a person comes in contact with scrub receives the bites. He concluded that the Scrub Typhus cases have been increasing in Chennai.
It is worth noting that infection could lead to low blood platelet count and finally to the failure of important organs like heart, kidneys, liver etc. For the sake of right treatment, timely testing is needed and deaths might also occur in case of late referrals.
It is shocking to mention here that while dengue could affect blood platelets count resulting in haemorrhage like condition whereas Scrub Typhus could lead to serious issues like myocarditis, hepatitis, coagulopathy, acute respiratory distress syndrome, muscle damage etc leading to organ failure in us. As the doctors have mentioned that it was not possible to determine which patient would have a minor infection and which patient would have a major issue, practising caution would be very important.
Important piece of information is that throughout TN in 2024 as many as 6343 Scrub Typhus cases were reported. The deaths due to Scrub Typhus were zero or nil.
