A Prospective Study to Know the Trends of Scrub Typhus Infection During the Seasonal Outbreak at a Tertiary Care Hospital in South Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Scrub typhus is a rickettsial disease caused by the organism Orientia tsutsugamushi. The overall mortality varies from 7% to 30%, next only to malaria among infectious diseases5. This prospective study was conducted with an aim to know the prevalence of the disease, sex ratio signicance and impact of seasons in the disease outcome in Rajsamand, Rajasthan. A total of 515 samples were received from different clinical departments at Ananta Institute of Medical Sciences and research center, Rajsamand from December 2020-December 2021, in which 88 samples were IgM Antibody reactive by Rapid card test and positivity is 16.7%. Scrub typhus infection was found comparatively more in female patients i.e., 48[55%] than in male patients 40 [45%]. The female to male ratio was 1.2:1. In the present study, majority of the patients 29 (32%) were from the age group of 31-45 yrs and about 19 (22%) were between 16-30 yrs. Maximum cases 31(35%) had occurred in the month of September followed by 27(31%) in October, 21(24%) in November and 4(5%), 3(3%), 2(2%) in the month of August, July and December 2021 respectively and not a single case reported in the month of December 2020 and from January 2021 to June 2021. So, scrub typhus should always be considered in the list of differential diagnosis of a young febrile female patient of this region mainly during the end of rainy season. This will help in proper diagnosis, timely and adequate treatment and avoidance of complications which are associated with high mortality