Thiruvananthapuram: A Class 7 student died of scrub typhus disease in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. Sidharth (11), son of Ratheesh and Subha of Choottayil, Kavuvilakath, had been undergoing treatment for the disease for the past four days.
He was a student at Government Higher Secondary School, Kilimanoor.
He had sought treatment for fever from a primary health centre near his house four days ago. From there he was shifted to SAT Hospital. He died while undergoing treatment there.
Scrub Typhus is an infectious disease caused by the Orientia tsutsugamushi, a mite-borne bacterium. It may be noted that chigger mites, the larval stage of mites, transmit the disease from rats, squirrels, rabbits and dogs.
Two people had died of the disease in Thiruvananthapuram last month.
Sabitha, a 39-year-old woman, died in Parassala after suffering from the disease for 15 days, and Ashwathi, a 15-year-old girl, succumbed to the disease in Varkala.
Following heavy monsoon rain, fever cases have been on the rise in the state.
Besides the regular influenza-related cold and fever, several other forms like scrub typhus fever, rat fever, and tomato fever have also been reported.
Twenty-five people have died of rat fever in the state, while 28 other lost their lives due to dengue as on July 10.
