Thirteen people have died due to scrub typhus across the country in the past one year. Two hundred and seventy-seven people were found infected with the bacterial disease since it was first diagnosed in the country in 2015.

“Laboratory test of blood sample collected from the patients at Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences had confirmed the disease in August last year. Scrub typhus may have been causing illness and fatalities before as well, but the disease was not identified in the country until last year,” said Dr Guna Nidhi Sharma, deputy health administrator at the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, during an interaction in Chitwan.

Scrub typhus is an acute, febrile, infectious illness that is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, and if untreated, could lead to death. Rodents are the main vectors of the disease. Scrub typhus is transmitted to humans and rodents by some species of trombiculid mites.

According to the data complied by the division, 101 people were diagnosed with scrub typhus as of mid-April, 2016.  Eight of the patients lost their lives, five among them in the last five months.

Scrub typhus had mostly affected the people from Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Dhading, Nuwakot, Sankhuwasabha and Khotang last year. This year, the disease was also detected in people from Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Gorkha, Baglung and Parsa. In Chitwan alone, 145 scrub typhus cases were diagnosed.

Dr Dayaram Lamsal, director of the Chitwan Medical College and Teaching Hospital, said Chitwan had a high number of diagnosed cases because people

from other parts of the country also visit the district for treatment.