On July 29, Dr. Hoang Cong Tinh, Department of Intensive Care 1, Hoa Binh General Hospital, said that upon admission, the patient was in a state of respiratory failure, with a high fever, chills, and an infection and poisoning. Upon examination, doctors discovered a wound caused by a tick bite on the patient's left buttock.

The patient’s family said the man worked as a farmer and raised honey bees on the rocky mountain. A week before being admitted to the hospital, the patient developed a fever and body aches. He took fever-reducing medicine at home but it did not help, so his family took him to Hoa Binh Provincial General Hospital.

At the hospital, tests showed acute liver and kidney damage, blood clotting disorders, and pneumonia. The patient was diagnosed with multiple organ failure due to scrub typhus, and was treated with a ventilator, specific antibiotics, and organ failure support measures. Currently, the man's health is stable.

According to doctors, scrub typhus is an acute infectious disease with a high mortality rate if not diagnosed early and treated specifically. The disease has diverse symptoms and is easily confused with other diseases.

The bacteria that cause the disease is called Orientalis, belonging to the Rickettsia family. The mite larvae carrying Orientalis bacteria will transmit the disease to humans through bites, so the mite larvae are the intermediary for transmitting the disease. Fever, headache, body aches, skin ulcers, rash, swollen lymph nodes, and multiple organ damage are the main signs of the disease.

Doctors say that people of all ages can get the disease, but it is more common in working age. To prevent it, when going to fields and mountains, people should wear closed clothes, apply insect repellent, apply insect repellent to exposed skin areas, and avoid sitting, lying, or drying clothes near trees and bushes.

Thu Phuong