The Odisha government has sent two health teams to Bargarh and Sundargarh districts to inquire into the deaths due to scrub typhus infection, an official said on Monday.

So far, six people died of such an infection in the two districts.

“There are some discrepancies in the scrub typhus death cases because the deceased had neither gone through proper testing nor treatment at any government facility. So, we have to collect details about the tests conducted and their symptoms,” public health director Niranjan Mishra said.

The teams will investigate the types of testings that were made in private hospitals and how the deaths occurred, he said.

“Several private hospitals are conducting the kit test, which is not confirmatory. ELISA test is the right method to detect the disease,” the director said.

According to health officials, five scrub typhus deaths have been reported in Bargarh district, while one person succumbed to the disease in Sundargarh.

Scrub typhus infection spreads through bites of infected chiggers (larval mites).

The health department has engaged accredited social health activists (ASHA) and auxiliary nurse and midwife volunteers to spread awareness about the disease.

People, who frequently visit farmland or forests, are vulnerable to the infection.

The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever and a black inflamed mark on the skin called ‘eschar’.

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