Yen Bai Province, located in northern Vietnam reported 94 scrub typhus cases last month, including one death in its Tram Tau District, said the provincial health authority on Friday.

Among the disease-hit localities in this border, mountainous province, Mu Cang Chai took the lead with 41 cases. Van Chan District reported 22 cases, while Nghia Lo Town and Van Yen District logged four and six infections, respectively.

In Tram Tau District, 20 people were infected and one of them succumbed to this bacterial disease.

Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by a bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi and is spread to people through bites of infected chiggers, which are larval mites.

This disease has remained common in some tropical countries in recent years.

In Vietnam, chiggers mostly inhabit rural, midland, and mountainous areas where there are dense bushes and trees.

The most common symptoms of scrub typhus include fever, headache, body aches, enlarged lymph nodes, and eschars at the site of the chigger bite. Scrub typhus can cause fatality.

To avoid infection, the provincial Health Department advised local people when going to thickly forested areas to wear socks, gloves, boots, long trousers, and long-sleeve shirts and not to dry clothes, leave backpacks or lie on grass.

People who develop the symptoms mentioned above should visit the nearest medical center for timely examination and treatment.

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