Verma SK, Gupta KK, Arya RK, Kumar V, Reddy DH, Chaudhary SC, Sonkar SK, Kumar S, Verma N, Sharma D. Clinical and biochemical profile of scrub typhus patients at a tertiary care hospital in Northern India.
J Family Med Prim Care 2021;
10:1459-1465. [PMID:
34041194 PMCID:
PMC8140274 DOI:
10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1162_20]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2020] [Accepted: 10/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Scrub typhus is a neglected rickettsial disease in India. Every year, we are facing outbreaks of Scrub typhus after Monsoon season. Patients present with a wide clinical spectrum ranging from pyrexia of unknown origin to multiple organ dysfunction. Some of these clinical features overlap with presentation of other tropical infections prevalent in Indian subcontinent, which leads to diagnostic dilemma and delay in diagnosis. Hence, we planned this study to know the demographic, clinical and biochemical profile of scrub typhus patients.
Methods
This was an observational study conducted in department of Medicine, King George's Medical University Lucknow, India a leading tertiary care hospital of Northern India. All scrub typhus patients were evaluated by detailed history, examination and laboratory tests.
Results
We enrolled 52 patients in our study. The mean age of the patients was 35.17 ± 16.90 years with majority (82.7%) of patients from rural background. All the patients had fever with an average duration of 9.6 ± 2 days. Most of the patients developed hepatitis (69.2%) followed by acute encephalitis syndrome (47%), acute kidney injury (23.1%) and acute respiratory failure (19.2%). Eschar was found in 11 patients (21.2%).
Conclusion
Scrub typhus is often misdiagnosed or diagnosed late due to its wide clinical spectrum overlapping with clinical presentation of other commonly prevalent tropical diseases. One should always consider the differential diagnosis of scrub typhus while evaluating a young febrile patient of rural background, with features of single or multiple organ dysfunction and laboratory findings of leucocytosis, thrombocytopenia and elevation of transaminases.
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