Silchar, April 16: Five Mizo villagers died of a rare viral fever, diagnosed as the Indian tick typhus, that surfaced in south Mizoram’s Thanzamasora last week.

Three other persons in the same village were also afflicted with the disease and are now undergoing treatment in a rural health clinic in nearby Chawngte.

The occurrence of the disease in Mizoram has rung an alarm not only in the state, but also in New Delhi.

According to official sources in Aizawl today, Thanzamasora, having no proper road connectivity, is situated 240km south of Aizawl and about 785km from Guwahati.

The parliamentary secretary in charge of health, S. Landingliana, said over telephone from Aizawl today that the director of health and family welfare, C. Lalthanmawia, and a team of senior officials from the Union health ministry had rushed to the village yesterday.

They intended to get first-hand inputs regarding the genesis and symptoms of the disease, and also to set in motion the necessary preventive measures for pre-empting its occurrence in other parts of the hill state.

Laldingliana said health officials had initially diagnosed it as a case of celebral malaria.

According to senior doctors at Aizawl Civil Hospital, the tick typhus was an infectious disease caused by rickettsia, a group of very tiny bacteria, giving rise to some physical symptoms in its victim like purple rash, headaches, viral fever and bouts of delirium.

Laldingliana said he had rushed to the village last week to mobilise medical aid on an emergency basis.

He said an awareness campaign was now under way in the rural enclaves in backward Lunglei district in Mizoram to make people aware of the disease and the need to keep their surroundings clean.

For a state with high literacy, it is strange that health facilities in Mizoram continue to be “very rudimentary” with only a dozen community health centres, 30 primary rural health clinics and eight district level civil hospitals.

Laldinliana said in the 13th finance commission allocation, Rs 30 crore had been sanctioned for developing the health sector in the state.