I recently caught “scrub typhus” here in Taiwan. I’ve never heard of this disease before. It’s caused by bitten by a mite - a bug about the size of a pinhead.
If untreated, the fatality rate for this disease is 60%! Even the 40% who survive are likely to be brain-damaged. Fortunately, there is a pretty good cure - tetracycline, an old antibiotic. I’m much better now. After a few days of treatment, the fever disappears, but you need to continue the drugs for two weeks thereafter.
Scrub typhus is endemic to Taiwan. It’s also found from Japan down to Australia and over to India. Your chances of getting it may be small, but certainly not impossible (after all, I got it). The hospital where I was treated sees about two cases a week. Projecting that all over Taiwan, I would guess there must be at least 1000 cases a year on this island, but I have no hard figures.
Since it takes a couple of weeks to incubate, you could catch the disease here and go to Europe or the USA and fall ill, and doctors there would never guess what it is since they never see it. So it might be wise to at least know the symptoms. The chief symptom is fever. The actual insect bite is a dead giveaway, but most people won’t relate the fever to the bite. After a few days of fever, mental confusion can begin, followed by encephalitis and death. Do a Google search on “scrub typhus” if you want to know more.
The mite lives in grass. I guess you never need to worry about it if you live in a concrete jungle and don’t visit any parks.
cheers,
DB
Thanks for posting this info DB.
A valuable contribution. :bravo:
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Thanks for posting this info DB.
A valuable contribution. :bravo:[/quote]
Yes, it is great to know about and could save a life.
We of the hiking fraternity can also add it to the worry of killer wasps attacking from above and the mites getting us from below.
Just want to add a little more info. For some reason (maybe because my brain got a little fried by this disease) I forgot to mention that I also started to develop a rash on the trunk of my body after 4 days of fever - that’s another symptom to look for. The doctor told me that scrub typhus is very similar to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (that latter is caused by tick bites), and the treatment is the same (tetracycline).
Also it might be of some interest to know the Chinese name for scrub typhus, which is 恙蟲 (pronounced “yang chong”). Do a Google search on those two characters and you’ll get lots of info in Chinese.
cheers,
DB
Not to downplay the seriousness of this, but most of the sites I viewed said the death rate for untreated bite victims is 6-35%, not 60%. Death usually comes within two weeks of infection as a result of a secondary illness. It’s transmitted by larval mites.
Also, the rash is not that common, only occurring in about 35% of victims. Similarly, the bite mark is often easy to overlook if it is in a difficult place or there is no scarring. Actually, according to a UK site (http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40024852/), most Asians don’t form a scab or scar after the bite.
[quote=“Persephone”]Not to downplay the
seriousness of this, but most of the sites I
viewed said the death rate for untreated bite
victims is 6-35%, not 60%. Death usually
comes within two weeks of infection as a
result of a secondary illness. It’s transmitted
by larval mites.[/quote]
I’ve found conflicting information. At this web
site…
emedicine.com/derm/topic841.htm
…it says:
Mortality/Morbidity: The mortality rate
ranges from 1-60%, depending on the
geographic area and the rickettsial
strain.
So whatever.
Interestingly, I got a call from the Public
Health Department (Weisheng Suo) today
asking me to come in and fill out a
questionnaire and take another blood test.
Rather diligent of them to follow through, I
thought. I kind of doubt that would happen in
a Western country.
cheers,
DB