According to new chief district medical officer (CDMO) of Sundargarh Dr Dharanidhar Satpathy, of the 69 samples that were tested, 13 were found to be positive for scrub typhus. The district has reported 263 scrub typhus cases so far this year.

The mite-borne bacterial disease, which has been on a steady rise in western Odisha, has emerged as a major challenge for the health authorities to curb spread of infection.

Rise in scrub typhus cases has become a cause of major concern for the health administration as it happened amid the fight to contain dengue spread in the district.

Scrub typhus infection spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites). The common symptoms of the disease include fever and a black inflamed mark on the skin called ‘eschar’. People who frequently visit farmland or forests are vulnerable to the infection.