What is scrub typhus
Release time : 06/11/2025 09:30:01
Summer is the perfect time to go on vacation, and are parents not as excited as the baby? But when traveling, beware of being bitten by "toxic insects".
Recently, a four-month-old baby fell victim to the disease, experiencing continuous high fever for a week and was diagnosed by doctors as "Qianghong". The summer weather is humid and hot, making malaria also peak season.
What is typhus? What are its symptoms? Can it be transmitted? How can babies prevent typhus? Parents, hurry and learn from the Maimai Science website! What is typhus? Typhus initially appears similar to the common cold, often leading to misdiagnoses that delay treatment and miss the optimal window for recovery.
Therefore, parents must be aware of the early symptoms of tsutsugamushi disease and the differences between tsutsugamushi disease and colds: Symptoms 1: The incubation period can last up to 4-21 days. Once the incubation period has passed, the baby may experience fever exceeding 38°C, accompanied by chills, loss of appetite, and fatigue in the limbs, indicating acute infection symptoms.
Symptom 2: Face flushed, conjunctival hyperemia, skin rash, scab, ulcer or lesion, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly and so on.
Symptom 3: If not treated promptly within two weeks, the condition of the baby may worsen. A continuous fever can lead to myocarditis, pericarditis, and even result in coma and multiple organ failure among other serious consequences.
Among these, the most significant distinction between malaria and the common cold is that in a case of malaria, there are scabs or ulcers at the site of bite by the insect.
Tsutsugamushi likes to bite moist and odorous parts of the human body, such as armpits, perianal circles, perineum, etc.
These areas are relatively concealed, and it can be challenging for parents to spot them at first. Therefore, if your baby develops symptoms of a cold after playing in grasslands or water bodies, it is essential to seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Tsutsugamushi disease is an acute infectious disease with rodents as the main source of infection and chigger mite larvae as the vector of transmission.
Once a baby is bitten by a tsutsugamushi, the virus will enter the baby's blood from the tsutsugamushi's saliva.
Although tsutsugamushi disease does not spread directly from person to person, if the baby particularly attracts mosquitoes, it is a person susceptible to tsutsugamushi disease. At this time, Baba Ma must be vigilant.
The first category: Babies with high sweat and high body temperature sweat a lot and have a strong body odor. They can easily provoke tsutsugamushi because tsutsugamushi is sensitive to touch and can quickly capture odors and find targets.
In addition, tsutsugamushi likes to bite moist and hot places, so babies with high body temperatures are more likely to be bitten by tsutsugamushi.
The second category: Babies with a lot of exercise replace Chen Xie quickly and have strong secretions. For example, if they exercise on the lawn for a long time and run around, they will also easily attract tsutsugamushi, and the chance of being bitten will be greatly increased.
The third category: babies with weak resistance Although not all babies will develop the disease after being bitten by a tsutsugamushi, if the tsutsugamushi contains Rickettsia tsutsugamushi (the pathogen of tsutsugamushi disease) and the baby itself has weak resistance, the chance of developing the disease is also relatively higher.
How to treat tsutsugamushi disease? When the baby is bitten by a tsutsugary worm, it is not painful at the beginning and is extremely difficult to detect. However, once the incubation period passes, the high fever may continue and multiple complications may appear one after another.
In order to cure the illness, parents and grandparents should not panic. The following treatment methods can help the baby get rid of the disease pain: Step 1: help the baby physical cooling If the baby is in a high fever, with a body temperature of below 39°C, you can use hot towels to wipe all over the body to cool down.
However, if the body temperature exceeds 39°C, cold compresses should be applied to prevent exacerbation of high fever! Step 2: Take your baby to the hospital for a check-up. If your baby has symptoms of a cold and is running a high fever, pay close attention to whether there are black scorched patches on the underarms, groin, waist, or other concealed areas. If so, immediately take your baby to the hospital for treatment.
Step 3: Follow the doctor's guidance for symptomatic treatment with medication. Currently, there are no specific medications available to treat filariasis. Additionally, since the baby is intolerant to clindamycin, tetracycline, ofloxacin, and cefoperazone, the treatment can only be symptomatic.
During the treatment period, it is essential to closely monitor the baby's blood count to prevent adverse drug reactions and exacerbate the condition.
Step 4: Adjust the baby's diet. After a baby catches a cold, their diet should mainly consist of liquid foods.
Baba can cook some porridge and rice soup for the baby to drink, and cut it so that the baby can eat hard, indigestible, fried food.
If properly cared for, the baby can recover in 2 weeks, but if there are complications, it will take longer.
How to prevent tsutsugamushi disease? Every year from June to October is the season with high incidence of tsutsugamushi disease. In order to prevent the disease, it is best for Baba Ma to get the following six tricks: 1. Avoid sitting and lying on the grass; since chigger mite bites mostly occur on the grass, Baba Ma Take your baby less to play next to the grass. Even if you want to take TA, you should not sit and lie directly on the grass. Choosing a soft and comfortable grass mat is a good choice.
2. Carry special mosquito repellent water for your baby to stop mosquito bites every time.
If you don't want the mosquito repellant aquatic products to come into direct contact with the skin, you can use homemade mosquito repellent water such as mugwort leaf and natural aromatherapy to repel mosquitoes. Or before taking your baby out, it is best to carry a baby's special mosquito repellent water. Spray it on your baby's clothes.
3. Wear light-colored long clothes when going out, take your baby on an outing in the wild. Try to let your baby wear light-colored long clothes, and tighten your baby's cuffs and trousers tightly to prevent the baby from being bitten by chigger mites.
In addition, after returning home, you should change and take a bath for your baby in time, and scrub the armpits, waist, perineum and other areas to reduce the chance of being bitten by tsutsugamushi.
4. Reduce indoor humidity. Tsutsugamushi often breed in humid environments. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the home environment and reduce the humidity in the room. For example, often open windows for ventilation, increase sunshine, and remove stagnant water in flower pots in time.
5. Eliminate mice: Chigger mites like to parasitize mice. If mice are found in the poop, measures must be taken immediately to kill mice. They must also keep the home environment clean and tidy and do not let mice enter the house.
6. Timely remove weeds, promptly clear any weeds present in your living area or surroundings, and promptly remove them. Apply insecticides to the areas where weeds are growing to eliminate spider mites, ensuring that there is no recurrence of their breeding in the living space and surrounding environment.
The medical information provided in this text is for reference only.
In the event of discomfort, it is advised to seek medical attention immediately for accurate diagnosis and treatment.