A 34-year-old woman died Thursday of scrub typhus, a bacterial infection, in Maharashtra's Gondia district, a senior health official said. Scrub typhus is a disease caused by the bite of chiggers, a minute arachnid, found in paddy fields and overgrown grass patches, the official said.

Seema Yeshwant Dhurwe, a resident of Thadezhari in Sadak Arjuni tehsil here, was admitted to a private hospital Tuesday after she complained of headache and high fever, said District Contagious Disease Control Officer Dr Bhumesh Patle. "After her condition deteriorated, she was put on ventilator support on Wednesday and died Thursday," Patle said.