Baitadi, Sept 4 

Baitadi district has witnessed a rise in the number of patients with dengue and scrub typhus infections.

As many as 49 cases of typhus were recorded in Baitadi since early August onwards, shared public health inspector of the district health office, Bhuwan Prasad Joshi. Dasharathchand municipality alone has recorded a total of 36 scrub typhus infected patents including 25 women and 11 men.

Likewise, four cases (three women and one man) were diagnosed with the infection in Patan municipality, six (four women and two men) in Dogadakedar rural municipality, one woman in Melauli municipality, one man in Pancheswor rural municipality and one women in Sigas rural municipality, Joshi informed. He further shared that the scrub typhus infection was diagnosed in rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) among those turning up at Baitadi district hospital and other health facilities for treatment.

In the previous fiscal year, 40 people were found with scrub typhus infection in the district. The number has soared to 49 in a month this year, he said. Heath workers here have urged the people to pay special attention to hygiene and sanitation to avoid infectious disease which is spread to humans through the bites of larval mites. The district residents have also been asked not to expose their body in bushy areas as bush is a habitat of the mites.

Likewise, the district has also seen dengue patients. Two women and one man were detected with dengue disease in Dasharath municipality of the district, Joshi shared. He called for the people to remain away from mosquito bites to prevent dengue infection as it is a mosquito-borne tropical disease