Bhubaneswar: State Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Principal Secretary Arabinda Padhee has tested scrub typhus positive and under treatment in his home.
According to sources, Dr.Padhee had given a sample for scrub typhus testing two days ago at Capital Hospital after feeling unwell. The report came positive. He is now under treatment at home.
It was suspected that the senior bureaucrat was infected with scrub typhus during his recent visit to home district in Western Odisha.
After coming to know about this, Agriculture Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain wished for his speedy recovery.
“Got to know that our @krushibibhag Principal Secretary Dr @arvindpadhee has been tested positive for #ScrubTyphus. Praying to Lord Jagannath for his speedy and complete recovery,” Shri Swain said in X.
Excluding two or three districts, scrub typhus has been detected in rural and urban areas in all districts of Odisha. So far, 22,077 samples have been tested, of which, 2820 scrub typhus positive cases have been detected in the state, said Director Public Health, Niranjan Mishra.
If the disease is detected at an early stage before affecting multi organs, it can be easily cured with normal treatment, he said.
He said the ELISA test is available at the district public health laboratory of all district headquarters hospitals in the State.
Dr.Mishra said a central team has visited Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh and Sambalpur districts to review the scrub typhus status in the districts. The team also visited Burla medical college as maximum patients are under treatment in the facility.
The Central Team expressed their satisfaction over the availability of testing facilities in all districts and verbally advised the state to enhance testing, he said, adding, “We will take further action after receiving their recommendations.”
The State Government is now focusing on increasing testing and early testing and providing necessary treatment. Earlier, a central team had visited several parts of Odisha to examine the increase of scrub typhus cases in the state.
The scrub typhus infection spreads when chigger bites someone. The persons who frequently visit farmland or forest are vulnerable to the infection. The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever and a black inflamed mark on the skin called ‘eschar’.
