Scrub typhus scare

At a time when doctors are yet to get over the scare of dengue in Kolkata and surrounding districts, the first case of scrub typhus was identified in the city on Saturday.

With the disease’s higher rate of fatality than dengue or malaria, doctors are worried that tests are not being conducted properly. A vector-borne disease, scrub typhus is caused by small lice-like insects, which has similar symptoms like dengue, including high fever and body ache.

Added to these are blisters caused by the mite’s bite, doctors said. The disease came to the notice of the administration after a six-year-old boy from Park Circus in south-eastern Kolkata and a seven-year-old girl from eastern Kolkata came down with high fever, but both tested negative for dengue.