Dr Meena J., consultant to the Department of Pediatrics at Akash Healthcare hospital, said a six-year-old boy was treated for the disease at that health center, the Press Trust of India reported.

The boy had fever for two weeks and was diagnosed with scrub typhus after a blood testing. As he did not have a severe infection, he was discharged after treatment through oral medication, Ms. Meena said.

According to Dr. Manish Mannan, head of Department, Pediatrics and Neonatology at Gurugram Paras Hospitals, scrub typhus symptoms are similar to that of dengue.

If the fever is not managed in time, then it can even cause a child to die. The mortality rate is one to 50%. It is transmitted by mites, he noted.

According to Dr Vineeta Singh Tandon, consultant, internal medicine, the PSRI Hospital, the symptoms of scrub typhus usually start showing within seven to 10 days of the mite bite. They manifest as fever, body ache, headache, abdomen pain and vomiting.

In some cases, breathing discomfort, altered sensorium, confusion and severe cough may also be seen, she said.

”These are caused when the major organs of the body are affected, leading to various complications like myocarditis (heart), hepatitis (liver), meningitis (brain) and kidney injury,” Tandon said.

pgh/Pll/mem / abm