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Symptoms of scrub typhus usually begin within 10 days of being bitten. The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches, dark, scab-like region at the site of the chigger bite, mental changes, ranging from confusion to coma, enlarged lymph nodes and sometimes rash. Most cases of scrub typhus occur in rural areas of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China, Japan, India and Northern Australia. Anyone living in or travelling to areas where scrub typhus is found could get infected.

There is no vaccine for preventing scrub typhus. But it can still be prevented by maintaining cleanliness and being aware of surroundings. Contact with the mite larvae can be prevented by not walking barefoot and sitting or lying directly on the ground. Insect repellent creams may also protect and homes and surroundings should be kept rodent-free.

With due concern for numbe of cases and deaths increasing at an alarming proportion in Northeastern state of Mizoram, Reporter Donboklang Wanniang from Eastern Panorama has contacted Dr. Pachuau Lalmalsawma MBBS, State Nodal Officer, IDSP Directorate of Health Services, to get an insight of this harmful virus. His full report is given below:

The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) of Mizoram has been collecting data on cases from District and private hospitals since 2012. Due to various constraints, the number of recorded sero-positivity and deaths is estimated to be at a much larger scale than the reported status.

As recorded by IDSP, Mizoram, there has been an outbreak of the disease from various parts of the state during the past few years as listed below:

Donboklang Wanniang

To read the further article please get your copy of Eastern Panorama March issue @http://www.magzter.com/IN/Hill-Publications/Eastern-Panorama/News/ or mail to contact @easternpanorama.in