Shindewadi Sassoon General Hospital doctors detect rare typhus fever outbreak

Two children – a four-and-a-half-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy – died in the last week of July, following which the tehsil medical officers asked the Sassoon hospital team to investigate into the matter. From August 14 onwards, several people had complained of fever, said District Health Officer Dr Bhagwan Pawar.

At Sassoon, a team from the microbiology and paediatrics department initially collected 15 blood samples of children for tests. When contacted Dr Renu Bharadwaj, Head of the Department of Microbiology at B J Medical College, said that till date a total of 28 samples had been collected and seven children detected with typhus fever.

Bharadwaj ruled out that the fever was due to tick-borne rickettsial infection.The symptoms include fever and the patient often gets delirious. The patient can turn critical in case there is a delay in treatment. A specialised test to differentiate between the epidemic and the endemic typhus was in progress, Bharadwaj added.

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Sassoon health authorities said that 12 children admitted to the hospital were recovering well after simple antibiotics were given to them. District Malaria Officer Dr Suresh Dhekle said that it was typhus fever and the situation was under control now.