Treatment
Without treatment, the disease is often fatal. Since the use of antibiotics, case fatalities have decreased from 4%–40% to less than 2%.
The drug most commonly used is doxycycline; but chloramphenicol is an alternative. Strains that are resistant to doxycycline and to chloramphenicol are common in northern Thailand. Rifampin and azithromycin are alternatives. Azithromycin is an alternative in children and pregnant women with scrub typhus, and when doxycycline-resistance is suspected. Ciprofloxacin cannot be used safely in pregnancy and is associated with stillbirths and miscarriage. Combination therapy with doxycycline and rifampicin is not recommended due to possible antagonism.
Other drugs that may be effective are clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and the fluoroquinolones, but there is no clinical evidence on which to recommend their use. Azithromycin or chloramphenicol is useful for infection in children or pregnant women.
Read more about this topic: Scrub Typhus
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