Macau has recorded this year’s second case of Tsutsugamushi Disease, also known as Scrub Typhus, the Health Bureau (SSM) announced.
Earlier this month, the bureau reported that the first case, a 67-year-old local woman, developed symptoms May 4. Symptoms include mild fever, coughs and runny nose. On May 7, her symptoms worsened to swelling in the right axillary lymph node. The next day she started to feel shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, dizziness and weakness.
Originally, the private Kiang Wu Hospital diagnosed her with breathing and cardiac failure. The diagnosis was later corrected after the medical staff found an eschar the size of a soybean on her back.
The patient works out every day at the Mong-Ha Hill and regularly walks on the lawn there.
The second case is a 61-year-old woman, a local resident who works as a cleaner in Mong-Ha Hill. She developed symptoms of fatigue and muscle pain around May 4. The symptoms continued to worsen and she developed a high fever on May 10. She went to the Kiang Wu Hospital for treatment and was diagnosed with scrub typhus.
According to the SSM, symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle pain and skin rash. A distinctive symptom is the formation of painless penetrating ulcerative eschars at the wound of the Tsutsugamushi mite bite.
The SSM warns that serious complications are possible, such as pneumonia, encephalitis and myocarditis, resulting in respiratory failure, shock, and even death. The mortality rate can be as high as 60%.
Members of the public are recommended, when they visit the countryside, to take measures to lower the possibility of getting bitten by the insects, such as wearing mosquito repellent made with DEET, as it helps repel Tsutsugamushi.
Pet keepers should frequently wash and trim their pets, and use flea combs to remove fleas on the pets, as well as regularly inspect pets bedding and conduct deworming.
Maintaining personal hygiene, including doing laundry regularly, especially immediately after spending time in nature, will also help stop the spread of the disease, the SSM added.
