'Mysterious Fever' Spreading In Uttar Pradesh Is Scrub Typhus: Here's What We Know About It

Earlier this month, a "mysterious fever" emerged in Uttar Pradesh as a new challenge amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

This report says that the fever claimed 51 lives, including 40 children, according to government data. The infected patients were reported to have been suffering from "high fever, cold, chest congestion and a drop in platelet count."

Firozabad district, reports said, was the first to report the fever and 80 people in the district had fallen to it.

CNBC TV 18 website said that the data is unofficial.

The fever, it later emerged, was called scrub typhus. Reports point that it spreads through the bites of mites found in bushes and the infection spread to Agra, Mainpuri, Etah, Mathura, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Basti and Kasganj districts — areas that reported cases of dengue as well.

The Union Health Ministry rushed a team of entomologists and vector-borne disease experts to Firozabad from the National Centre for Disease Control.

The team confirmed the cases of scrub typhus. The Economic Times says in its report that the scrub typhus is also known as bush typhus and is transmitted through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).

It is a vector-borne disease that marks its onset by fever and rashes and "affects the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, renal, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems."

It is a re-emerging infectious disease in India.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the affected region. He added that the team of experts from Lucknow’s King George's Medical University would probe that the deaths, especially the death of children caused by scrub typhus.

The Adityanath government transferred the chief medical officer of Firozabad following the outbreak. This report says that an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) team was called to take stock of the situation.

A report on the Hindustan Times website mentions that data reveals that "the instances of scrub typhus have reached 39 and over 87 per cent of such patients required hospitalisation."

This website reports that Dr A K Singh, additional director (health) has said: “So far, 62 people have died of dengue including 51 children and 11 adults in Firozabad".

The Opposition has attacked the state government over the handling of the situation.

“Our teams are regularly keeping an eye on high-incidence areas where dengue cases have emerged. Anti-larvae sprays and fogging are getting done regularly. As far as the rise in cases of scrub typhus is concerned, we came to know that people who visited hill stations have got affected by scrub typhus. More than 90 per cent of scrub typhus patients have a history of visits to hill stations. So, the spread is not local,” said GK Mishra, district malaria officer, in the HT website report.

The Adityanath government has been in the news earlier for its fight and work against Japanese encephalitis, particularly in Gorakhpur district.