VARKALA: A class 10 student has died of scrub typhus in Varkala. The deceased has been identified as Ashwathy (15), daughter of Ayanthi native Shaji Das and Anitha. This is the first case of scrub typhus death in the state this year. Six persons had died last year due to scrub typhus.

Ashwathy breathed her last on Wednesday evening at the Parippally medical college hospital. Ashwathy, a student of Njekkad Higher Secondary School, had appeared for the Class X examination and was awaiting her results. The funeral was held at her home yesterday. Her sister Ahilya is a Plus Two student

Ashwathy, who suffered fever and vomiting on the morning of June 1, had been rushed to Vettoor Primary Health Center and later to Varkala Taluk Hospital. She was given medicine and sent back home after the examination. On June 3, she collapsed at home.

She was immediately admitted to Paripally Medical College. She was later put on ventilator support as the functionality of her internal organs and the oxygen levels decreased during treatment. The presence of the bacteria Orientia tsutsugamush that causes scrub typhus was detected upon testing her blood samples. When the sample was sent to the Alappuzha Virology Institute, the result was positive. A team from the District Medical Office visited the site.

Scrub Typhus is an infectious disease caused by the Orientia tsutsugamushi, a mite-borne bacterium. Chigger mites, the larval stage of mites, transmit the disease from animals like rats, squirrels, rabbits and so on to humans.