Rickettsial fever spreads in erstwhile Khammam district

Khammam: A large number of people, particularly in agency areas, are suffering from a rarest disease, called rickettsial fever, here in the erstwhile Khammam district. Doctors have reported a huge number of cases of rickettsial fever in Kamepalli, Chintakani, Mudigonda Palvoncha and Bhadrachalam mandals.

Patients from from Kamepalli, Garla and Mudigonda mandal, who are admitted in a private hospital in Khammam, tested positive for the fever. intracellular parasites and invade vascular endothelial cells in target organs Speaking to The Hans India, Dr D S L Anand said, “rickettsial fever is caused by an unusual type of bacteria that can live only inside the cells of another organism. Most of these infections are spread through mosquitoes, ticks, mites, fleas, or lice.

The tick-borne rickettsial diseases cause severe morbidity and mortality in healthy people. Due to its 5 to 14 day incubation period, the people often do not experience symptoms during that time, he added.

The symptoms of the diseases are same like that of dengue and chickungunya and the people often go for testing of such diseases and when the reports are negative, the doctors treat it as normal fever. Most of the patients in in Kamepalli, Hintakani, Mudigonda, Garla, Palvoncha and Bhadrachalam mandals have little or no knowledge about rickettsial fever, he said.

The symptoms of the rickettsial disease are fever, severe headache, a characteristic rash, and general feeling of illness (malaise), he said. Early diagnosis of the disease poses a challenge. Doctors refer the patients to special tests to decide whether it is rickettsial fever. But there is no such facilities in the government hospitals in Khammam district.

The bacteria cannot be identified by using commonly available laboratory tests. The blood test, which diagnoses these bacteria, is a long process, and is called “Weil-Felix” test. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique is used to increase the amount of the bacteria's DNA, so that the bacteria can be detected more easily.

Dr N Sridhar said early treatment of rickettsial infections can prevent complications and reduce the risks, besides ensuring speedy recovery. Rickettsial infections respond promptly to early treatment with the antibiotics doxycycline (preferred) or chloramphenicol. These antibiotics are given through mouth unless they are very sick.

After treatment, most people with a mild infection noticeably improve in 1 or 2 days and fever usually disappears in 2 to 3 days. When treatment begins late, improvement is slow and the fever lasts longer. If the infection is untreated or if treatment begins too late, people may die, he added.