Scrub Typhus - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: Himachal Pradesh

Explanation:

• Himachal Pradesh is one of the endemic areas for the disease — it is also endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, northern Australia, the Arabian peninsula and Japan. It is an occupational disease frequently found in people who work in the fields and are in the habit of gardening.
• In Himachal Pradesh, the disease spreads most commonly during grass cutting operations in the orchards, and is alleged to have taken a serious turn this year due to laxity in controlling the mite.

ANSWER: Parasite

Explanation:

• Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus because the mites (Leptotrombidium deliense, commonly known as trombiculid mite) that cause it resides in vegetation predominantly comprising small shrubs, is an infectious disease with symptoms similar to any viral fever.
• However, it is not caused by a virus, but by a parasite called Orientia tsutsugamushi, which is transmitted by the bite of infected mite larvae in soil containing scrub vegetation.
• The disease is more common during the wet season when the mites lay eggs.