With the scrub typhus season approaching, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday advised people to cover up when sweeping tombs or doing other activities outdoors, as the fatality rate can be as high as 60 percent without proper treatment.
Cases of scrub typhus usually begin to increase in April and reach their peak in May or June, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.
As of Monday, 27 cases had been reported this year, with 12 of them occurring in Hualien and Taitung, CDC data showed.
Prior years had more cases in the same period — 43 cases in 2019 and 37 cases last year — with most of the infections occurring in Hualien, Taitung and the outlying islands, the data showed.
Scrub typhus is usually transmitted to humans when they are bitten by chiggers, or larval mites, that are infected with bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said.
Occurring nine to 12 days after a bite, scrub typhus symptoms can include fever, headache, enlarged lymph nodes, macular or maculopapular rash, and a dark and scab-like region at the site of the chigger bite, he said.
“Some of those infected might also experience coughing or pneumonia, and if the infection progresses untreated, organ failure,” Lin said. “The fatality rate can reach up to 60 percent, although it can drop below 5 percent if it is properly treated with antibiotics.”
Chiggers are typically in dense grass and bushes, and people can get bitten if they pass through the area, so the CDC advises people to wear light-colored clothing with long sleeves and long pants, and to apply insect repellent to exposed skin when participating in Tomb Sweeping Festival or other outdoor activities, he said.
Chiggers might be attached to people’s clothing if they have walked through grass and bushes, so they should take a bath and wash their clothes after walking through areas that might have the insects, Lin said.
If people think that they have scrub typhus symptoms, they should immediately seek medical attention, he added.
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