Through medical history, it was found that one month ago, the patient had participated in farming. In the last three days before coming to the hospital, the fever became worse, accompanied by severe difficulty breathing, making it almost impossible for the patient to breathe on his own.
Upon admission, due to the severity of the patient's condition, the patient was placed on a ventilator and necessary tests were performed. The results showed that the patient had scrub typhus. The patient was then transferred to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
Here, the patient was diagnosed with scrub typhus and treated with active methods: mechanical ventilation support, blood filtration to improve respiratory failure as well as prevent complications.
MSc. Dr. Ha Viet Huy, Department of Intensive Care, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said: Patient M was bitten by a tick in a sensitive area of the genitals. This is a difficult location to detect, requiring a thorough and meticulous examination by the doctor. Fortunately, doctors at the lower level discovered the cause. Finding the bite in this case is a decisive factor in helping to diagnose the disease correctly and apply the initial treatment regimen.
For patients with scrub typhus, the use of specific drugs plays a decisive role in the treatment process. If detected early, the disease can be effectively controlled and the patient recovers quickly.
MSc. Dr. Ha Viet Huy added that scrub typhus is an infection caused by bacteria of the Rickettsiacea family, usually transmitted through the bite of the Leptotrombidium mite. This is a dangerous disease if not detected and treated promptly, it can cause complications of multiple organ failure and death. Although it is a rare disease, scrub typhus usually causes few complications if detected promptly and treated properly. This is why early detection is so important.
Scrub typhus has special identifying features. The bite caused by the mite is usually characterized by a black scab measuring 2-3x3-5mm, painless, not itchy, with a red border and raised on the skin surface, often not healing, accompanied by symptoms such as high fever, fatigue, rash, swollen lymph nodes and in the severe stage, difficulty breathing. The disease is not transmitted through the respiratory tract or normal contact but only through direct bites of the mite. This makes the disease easy to miss in the early stages if not carefully examined.
