The government has issued an advisory for scrub thyphus, an infectious disease that is transmitted to humans from field mice and rats through the bite of mites that live on the animals.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Sunday that the disease usually occurs in the autumn, with 90 percent of the patients reported from September to November.

The ministry advised people to use caution when taking part in outdoor activities such as cutting the weeds around ancestors’ tombs ahead of the Chuseok holidays.

The average latency period is about three weeks. Symptoms include acute fever and rashes spreading from the body's trunk to the limbs.

With the lack of preventive vaccines, it is important to follow precautionary rules of wearing clothes with long sleeves and spraying insect repellant.