Chitwan, June 20

Four persons were diagnosed with scrub typhus in the past two months in Chitwan.

Identified in 533 persons, the ailment took five lives in the first nine months of last year.

District Public Health Office Chitwan’s Kit control inspector Ram Kumar KC informed that the infection was detected during check up in Chitwan Medical College.

Last year, scrub typhus was detected across 47 districts. It infected 830 people and killed 14 in the country.

It was discovered for the first time in eastern Nepal, two years ago when 101 were infected. It then caused eight fatalities. The disease is non-communicable and gets transmitted when fleas, mites, lice, or ticks bite.

There is shortage of kit to diagnosis the typhus in labs although the disease is prevalent in the district.

Kit inspector KC said though Bharatpur Hospital had demanded the kits, they are yet to be delivered. Despite the government’s provision to test the scrub for free, patients are forced to pay exorbitant fees for the test. Private hospitals charge about Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 for the same.