Who gets scrub typhus fever?
Scrub typhus fever occurs most commonly among people in contact with overgrown terrain, forest clearings, reforested areas, and new settlements in certain areas of Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, northern China, and Korea. How is scrub typhus fever spread? Scrub typhus fever is not directly spread from person-to-person. Disease is spread to people by the bite of a mite infected with the bacteria that causes scrub typhus fever. Could scrub typhus fever be used for bioterrorism? No. However, Rickettsia prowazekii, the bacteria that causes epidemic typhus fever, is considered an agent that could be used for bioterrorism. What are the symptoms of scrub typhus fever? Symptoms may include a sore on the skin with a “punched out” appearance (skin ulcer) at the site where the mite attached. Several days after the appearance of the ulcer, other symptoms may develop which include fever, headache, sweating, blood-shot eyes, swollen lymph nodes, rash, lung infection, vomiting, a
