SAMBALPUR: Amid the rising cases of scrub typhus in western Odisha districts, VIMSAR started testing for the disease from Sunday. A bacterial disease, scrub typhus is caused when a person is bitten by larval mite.
The disease is mostly found in people working in agricultural fields and forest areas where they come in contact with the mites in shrubs and bushes. Symptoms include fever, headache, nausea, diarrhoea and skin rashes which, if untreated, may cause serious organ damage.
Official sources said that on an average, five cases are being reported in the hospital every day since the last few weeks. In absence of testing facilities, the patients were forced to go to private diagnosis centres which charge around Rs 1,300 for the test. At VIMSAR, patients can avail the test free of cost.
Superintendent of VIMSAR Jayashree Dora said, on the first day, the test was conducted on 13 patients. Similarly, nine patients were tested till Monday afternoon.