We're all worried about colds, flu, gastrointestinal whatnots. Some of us might even still be worried about COVID a bit.
But hey, because I'm a nice guy, here you go: You can add "scrub typhus" to the list as well.
What is scrub typhus? Well, let's just say it's even worse than it sounds!
Bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi causes the disease scrub typhus, which is spread to people through bites of infected chiggers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"That is a disease that has never been described in North America or in the Americas altogether," Gideon Wasserberg, an infectious disease expert who works in the UNCG Department of Biology, said.
Yeah you really don't want to hear pathologists talking like that. "Never been described in North America..." I mean they don't just roll that kind of rhetoric out for nothing. That feels pretty serious.
The symptoms include "confusion, fever, chills, headache, body aches, rash" and "larger lymph nodes." It's nothing pretty. And "in some extreme cases, it can lead to organ failure."
Wasserberg, the infectious disease expert, said the incidence of infection among surveyed chigger populations was at times staggering:
"There were some sites that had 50%. I think we even had a site that had 90% infection in the chiggers," Wasserberg said. "That was fairly alarming."
Between 50 and 90% infection rate among the chiggers?!
Right now experts urge: If you go outside in chigger-friendly environments, use insect repellent.
Yeah, you needed an expert to tell you that!
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