Scrub typhus infection reported from Mizoram village

At least 139 scrub typhus cases have been detected at Hauruang village in Lunglei district of Mizoram, state health department officials said.
State Nodal officer of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma said the disease was first reported from the village early this month.
A surveillance team was sent to the area to undertake an on-the-spot study of the situation prevailing in the villlage, he said.
No death due to the infection has been reported from the village, where 139 samples of the total 319 have tested positive for scrub typhus, he said.
Scrub typhus is a mite-borne disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi (formerly Rickettsia tsutsugamushi). The adult mites do not bite, and the larvae which are too small to be seen by the naked eye do so in a painless manner. Symptoms are fever, a primary lesion, a macular rash, and lymphadenopathy.

In December last, one person died and 81 people were infected with scrub typhus in Aizawl district's Phullen and surrounding villages of Luangpawn, Thanglailung and Zawngin.
Over 1,000 people were infected with the scrub typhus of which 35 people died since 2012, state health department records said.