Increasing Trend of Scrub Typhus in Madhya Pradesh: A Four-Year Retrospective Analysis

Background: In a region known as the ‘tsutsugamushi triangle’, concentrated in Southeast and Pacific Asia, the geographic distribution of endemic scrub typhus is linked to the spread of the reservoir mite. Scrub typhus appears to be particularly prevalent in the tsutsugamushi triangle, which spans around 13 million km2 area and is bordered on the east by Japan, China, the Philippines, tropical Australia in the south, on the west by India, Pakistan, possibly Tibet, Afghanistan, and southern parts of the USSR in the north.Methodology: This study aims to find the trend of occurrence of scrub typhus in various districts of Madhya Pradesh from 2017 to 2020. It is a retrospective observational study conducted among all laboratory-confirmed IgM ELISA patients positive for scrub typhus in Madhya Pradesh. Data was collected from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) database on zoonotic diseases.Results: According to statistics, in 2017, 29% of cases were found to be in rural areas and 71% in urban areas. In 2018, 97% of cases in rural areas and 3% in urban areas were recorded. Similarly, in 2019, 90% of instances were recorded in rural areas and 10% in urban areas, while in 2020, 97% of cases were reported in rural areas and 3% in urban areas.Conclusion: The epidemiological data presented here can aid in the creation and timely implementation of public health strategies to lower the prevalence of scrub typhus in Madhya Pradesh. How to cite this article:Bijlwan A, Kumar S, Sinha V, Kaurav Y S, SinghS K, Goyal S. Increasing Trend of Scrub Typhusin Madhya Pradesh: A Four-Year RetrospectiveAnalysis. J Commun Dis. 2024;56(4):57-61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/0019.5138.202470