Another Tsutsugamushi Disease (also known as scrub typhus) case was reported by the Health Bureau in a statement yesterday, the second case within a week.
This is the seventh suspected case of scrub typhus in Macau this year.
According to the statement, a male mainland non-resident worker (NRW), aged 51, working as a slope protection engineer, went to the private Kiang Wu Hospital for emergency treatment on July 12 and 13 after coming down with a fever and full-body muscle pain, which had started on July 5. He was hospitalised on July 13.
The doctor found a soybean-sized exanthema (cutaneous eruption) near the patient’s left groin during a medical check, the statement noted. It added that his condition improved after treatment, and he was discharged from the hospital on Friday.
The statement pointed out that the victim told the Health Bureau that he had worked on a hillside near the Caltex Petrol Station in Estrada Almirante Marques Esparteiro in Taipa on June 24, adding that his roommates and colleagues had not developed similar symptoms.
The bureau urged the public to take precautions when engaged in outdoor activities, including wearing long sleeves, using insect repellent with DEET, avoiding entering grasslands as well as taking showers and changing all clothing after leaving susceptible areas where they could be easily infected with the disease. The bureau also urged people showing symptoms of the disease to see a doctor immediately.
Scrub typhus or bush typhus is a form of typhus caused by the intracellular parasite Orientia tsutsugamushi, a mite-borne bacterium, according to Wikipedia.
This undated photo shows a larval mite which may cause scrub typhus. - Photo courtesy of Kauvery Hospital, an Indian hospital chain.
